90 Percent of Ayetoro Gone!

cappaone
September 3, 2024
2:16 pm

By Robert Egbe, Olamide Ogunlade, Olalekan Fagbenro and Gabriel Diugwu

Three months after its last visit, Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) on August 28, 2024, returned to the beleaguered coastal town of Ayetoro in Ilaje Local Government Area (LGA) of Ondo State to find the community on the verge of total extinction.

Over 90 per cent of the once thriving community has now slipped into the Atlantic Ocean, rendering more than 5,000 individuals homeless, schools, health centres and other critical infrastructure destroyed.

Ayetoro, otherwise known as the Happy City, was founded by local fishermen in 1947 as a utopian Christian community but is now on the frontlines of climate change and exploration activities of oil firms. It has, since 1998, been threatened by ever-worsening sea incursions and rising sea levels.

On one of CAPPA’s visits last May, the residents raised the alarm that over 75 per cent of their land had gone underwater, taking along over 700 houses. They complained of the progressive impact of the devastations on their economic well-being and health.

However, when the CAPPA team, led by Climate Change Senior Programme Manager Olamide Martins Ogunlade, returned recently, they met the town in even worse condition, with scenes of even worse desolation and relics from its immediate past.

“You remember the spot where we held our last peaceful rally calling on the government to come to our rescue? It’s now underwater”, said Oluwambe Ojagbohunmi, Ayetoro’s traditional ruler, pointing to an area where boulders jut out each time the frothy waves receded.

“We had 45 streets in Ayetoro, which we planned and constructed by ourselves, without government help. Now, only two streets remain. The rest have been effectively submerged,” Ojagbohunmi added.

As part of CAPPA’s commitment to helping Ayetoro amplify its cry for help, the team also spoke with other members of the community for its African Storytelling Platform.

Bemoaning their alleged abandonment by Ondo State and the Federal Government, the monarch added: “In the past, you could walk hundreds of metres before reaching the sea, but now the sea is right here with us. Even the palace’s ground floor is underwater.” He appealed for help.

Echoing the king, youths in the community urged Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa to declare a state of emergency over the incessant sea incursion. They asked the state to support the upscaling of the local embarkment constructed by the community through self-help.

Their spokesperson, Thompson Akingboye, added: “More than 5,000 people have been displaced, landlords have become tenants in their hometown, and many people are left without a home, sleeping wherever they can.” Responding, Ogunlade pledged CAPPA’s determination to continue standing by the people in their quest for relief. As part of this effort, CAPPA’s latest visit aimed to highlight the community’s story on the African Storytelling Platform, with the goal of reaching a wider global audience. Developed in collaboration with U.S.-based Corporate Accountability (CA), the platform seeks to amplify Africa’s environmental and climate change narratives. The African Storytelling Platform is set to launch before the end of the year.