Ayetoro: A community on verge of extinction

DAVID AKINADEWO in this report traversed the Ayetoro community in Ilaje area of Ondo State, noting that the once thriving community is now a shadow of itself as residents had been forced to flee due to ocean surge and the devastation that comes with it.

IN the oil-rich Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State lies a religious community that became popular through its embrace of communal system of living and technical education. The community, established on an island and situated along the east coast from Lagos, came into existence as a settlement for the people of like minds across the Ilaje nation who felt uncomfortable with the religious practices of their kinsmen.

This settlement named Ayetoro, by the early settlers on January 12, 1947, rose to become one of the strongest towns in the present Ilaje local government with an estimated population of 14,000 going by the 1991 Nigerian census, a figure which increased to 26,000 in 2006. The ruler of the religious community, which took its mode of worship and Christian practice from the white garment Cherubim and Seraphim (Aladura) sect, is known and referred to as the Ogeloyinbo of Ayetoro and His Spiritual Majesty of Holy Apostles Church, Ayetoro Worldwide.

All the achievements of the community, which were the envy of its contemporaries, are now at the verge of going into oblivion, no thanks to the incessant ocean surge that had displaced about 21,000 residents and threatening to submerge the community.

Ayetoro, well known as the Happy City, hitherto had 32 houses per street, but that number has dropped over the last two decades to an average of four on the now water ravaged streets. The main road in the community named Broad Street is now water-logged as an estimated 500 houses have been swept away by the ocean since the incursion began in the early 2000. Some of these submerged buildings could be identified with their pegs evident in the ocean, while others had been lost without any trace.

The latest visit of the ravaging ocean surge which left tales of devastation across the entire community occurred at the midnight of September 24, 2019 and brought the population of the town to about 5,000 as it swept away about 200 buildings and alongside other propoerties, leading to many residents fleeing to other towns to take shelter. The damage done to the community since the beginning of the surges was put at over N150billion.

Apart from threatening the profession of the people, who are predominantly fishermen, the passion of the people to provide quality education for their children has also been grossly affected, as they have had to relocate both the community’s primary and secondary schools three times over the last few years from their different locations. The football fields of the schools, the community’s recreation centre and a host of other amenities have been lost to the ocean.

When Sunday Tribune visited the community, the devastation seen at different locations were massive. The generator house with the generating set that was powering the community was submerged, thereby throwing the community into darkness; the two-storey first palace of the Ogeloyinbo of Ayetoro Community built with concrete has been taken over by water as the ground floor could no longer be assessed due to huge flood, ditto the second palace of twin upstairs buildings with courtyard used for the Oba’s engagements and church revivals.

What was on ground during the visit was a clear departure from the report written about the community by E. M. McClelland in a journal article title: “The Experiment in communal living at Ayetoro”, in October, 1966 which stated that “The company of the Apostles at Ayetoro is a settlement unique in Nigeria. It is a prosperous community with a high standard of living and excellent amenities. Its reserves of capital, or rather cash, are obviously very large indeed. The people look healthy and content. Their way of life is wholly communal and they claim that it is based on the precepts of the early Christian Apostles. The varying views expressed about it by visitors have contributed to the great interest which it undoubtedly rouses”.

At present, the health centre which should provide medical care for the people is not left out of the challenge, as all departments at the centre, including the ward, family planning unit, drug administration unit, outpatient unit and others are no longer safe for medical services.

One of the glories of the community that contributed to its fame was the first technical college in Nigeria, established to train marine and nautical engineers. Located at the entrance of the town, the college which had trained many prominent engineers in Nigeria is now moribund, initially due to government policy which took it over but abandoned it shortly; and now the surge is not sparing it either. Other amenities that are almost becoming history or have been submerged by the ocean at Ayetoro are: the community’s football field, primary and secondary schools that have been shifted trice, exotic beach, beautiful plants and about five kilometers of landmass. All these and other assets are either being threatened or are gone.

Pictorial evidence from residents showed a well laid out community with about 20 kilometres in landmass, good roads constructed with concrete, lined with green plants and well constructed pathways. All theses combined to make the community a beauty to the eyes.

All these enviable attributes of the town and hope of the indigenes for a better future are fast disappearing as they watch helplessly as their community’s heritage and beauties are being wiped out. As it is today, all the mangrove forests have been swept away and the vegetation near the shore is under intense threat, coupled with the high sea level, it might be difficult to have coconut and farm produce grown on the soil soon.

Investigations conducted by the Sunday Tribune revealed that oil exploration and exploitation in the community by oil firms was the major cause of the ocean surge as the ocean bed sank due to their activities which took no cognizance of the environment and its impact on the shoreline. These ultimately led to the rise of the ocean and its attendant surge on the already threatened land.

Effects of the oil exploration were identified as the reason for the loss of the over five kilometres of the community’s coastline to the Atlantic Ocean and it has greatly affected the fishing profession of the populace, since the entry points have been eaten by the ocean which is now within the Ayetoro town. This has made life unbearable for the fishermen as they now have to be entering and exiting the ocean from neighbouring communities whenever they went to ply their trade. Fishing, which is the mainstay of the local economy of the Ayetoro people, has been crippled, ditto the marine life of the people.

Faced with this challenge of ocean surge over the years, the community through its leadership had cried severally to the government at all levels in Nigeria for intervention, and this was said to have paid off in  2004 when the interventionists agency established by the federal government, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) awarded the Shoreline Protection contract to Gallet Nigeria Limited at the sum of N2.4billion. The company was said to have been mobilised to the tune of N650million, but when it could not live up to expectation of constructing a defence for the community against the threatening ocean surges after four years, the community again made presentations to the government and the contract was terminated for the reason of non-execution of the contract.

The same contract was re-awarded in  2009 by the NDDC to another company, Dredging Atlantic at the sum of N6.5billion, but a visit to the community showed that there is no embankment or shoreline protection on site. The community has remained at the mercy of the Atlantic Ocean.

The head of the community, who doubles as the head of The Holy Apostles Church, Oba Micah Olaseni Ajijo, the Ogeloyinbo of Ayetoro, told Sunday Tribune in an interview in his palace that if nothing is done urgently by the state and federal government to save the town, it would go into extinction.

Oba Ajijo, whohad vacated the two palaces of the community due to the flood that had taken over the buildings, had to entertain visitors at his private residence. Speaking with Sunday Tribune, he said all efforts have been made by the community over the years to address the situation, noting that they were happy when the contracts were awarded by the NDDC. But, today, all they have had to share, he said, is disappointment.

While appealing to the government at all levels to come to their aid, Oba Ajilo said both the state and federal governments should   seek assistance from the Global Ecological Fund to salvage Ayetoro community,  maintaining, however, that it was important for the government to investigate what happened to the almost N9billion budgeted for the shoreline protection of Ayetoro and other communities on the coastline which did not see the light of the day.

According to him: “Today, the sea has taken almost a third of the city and substantial infrastructure has been lost to the ocean. We used to have roads along the coastline and  other facilities built by the community; all these have been lost to the ocean.  A lot of houses have been lost and if I am to estimate the assets that have been lost by the community to the sea, it will be in the neighbourhood of N150bn and above. And this situation has really eroded the capital base in which a lot of our people can work and go to the sea. It has really affected our livelihood, leading to a lot of members of the community now being scattered all over the Ilaje communities, even up to Igbokoda, because they have lost their houses and properties to the sea”.

Oba Ajijo appealed to well-meaning Nigerians both at home and in diaspora to join hands with the Ilaje people in prevailing on the government to prioritise efforts to address the challenge facing the people of Ayetoro community, saying, “the [major] challenge of our community in the present circumstance is how do we go into the future without adequate coastal protection?

“This is why your coming is so important, to draw international attention to our plight. If the interventionist agency cannot act, there is the Global Ecological Fund that can support government to protect Ayetoro, even as a historical monument. So government can appeal to the body in charge of this fund and resources from there are not even loans, because some of it are just grants, so it won’t amount to a burden on the government of Nigeria”.

Also speaking, the Baba Ijo of The Holy Apostles Church, who is the Deputy to the Ogeloyinbo, Bishop Ereminbo Eretan , a fisherman, confirmed that the sea had  greatly devastated Ayetoro community.  He stated that prices of essential items have skyrocketed in the community as fishing which is the mainstay of their economy had been seriously affected, as they now have to be buying what ordinarily was surplus in their domain.

Eretan also appealed to the government of Nigeria not to fold its arms and allow Ayetoro and other Ilaje communities go into extinction, stressing that once the ocean is able to connect with the fresh waters, the devastation is better imagined that experienced.

An indigene, Mr Aralu Emmanuel, who is the principal of the only private secondary school in the community expressed his disappointment with the neglect of the community by the government, saying the landmass between the town and the sea shore was kilometers in the past, but now the ocean is already at home threatening their existence.

He said the experience when he was young was very interesting, but all their historical assets have been swept away by the ocean to the extent that no land is left for social activity and agriculture as was in the past.

Aralu disclosed that all the documents of the Community Primary School, Ayetoro, established in 1955 had been washed away in the headmaster’s office when the last ocean surge occurred in September this year. He said the impact of the surge was so devastating that the pupils and students of the community could not resume for the current academic session until seven weeks after.

Another indigene of the town, Mr Akinjoye Sunday, expressed sadness that both his father’s house and the house he was residing had been swept away by the ocean and he is currently a squattier.

Describing the experience as horrible, Akinjoye appealed to the NDDC and the Ondo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (OSOPADEC), to rise to the occasion and ensure that shoreline protection is done for Ayetoro and the other communities if Ilaje as a whole is to survive.

A former chairman of Ilaje local government  whose administration did the leg work before the now failed shoreline protection contract eventually got approved by the NDDC initially in 2004, Mr Adetola Alabere, said it is unfortunate that the contractors and the NDCC took the people of Ilaje for granted.

Wondering what on earth could have led to the abandonment of the project by the two companies when in actual fact they were mobilised to begin work, Alabere who served as Secretary of the Coastal Protection Committee of the government when the project was to start, said the entire community  jubilated when the contract was awarded in 2004, saying that hope gave way to despodency two years after, when nothing happened, leading the community to write again to both the government and the NDDC.

He stated further that it was at that point that the government and the NDDC in their wisdom decided to revoke it and re-awarded same to Dredging Atlantic at the sum of N6.5billion, but up till now, 10 years after the latest award, nothing had been done on site.

Alabere said several efforts had been made by the community, stating that during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, a committee was set up headed by Steve Oronsaye, the former Head of Service and the community wrote and appeared before the committee to defend their petition, an outcome of which led to the dissolution of the then NDDC board in 2011.

“Our hope then was that succour would come after that, but unfortunately it has been the same story all through. As you can see, the whole of the community is almost eaten up by the sea surge, but we are not resting, we will continue to agitate. We recently went to the National Assembly to defend our position again and we are hoping that very soon there will be concrete intervention before the whole community is wiped out by the ocean.”

Debunking the insinuation that activities of fishermen also contribute to the problem of ocean surge in the community, the Secretary General of Holy Apostles Church and the Ayetoro Community, Elder Dele Kudehinbu, said it was not true, stating that the Ilaje people have been fishing from time immemorial both in the sea and the fresh water, so going into the sea does not lead to erosion of the coastline.

He said there have been canals where they move into the sea and come back, and theynever threaten the environment, alleging that the problem is from the activities of the oil companies.

Kudehinbu, a retired federal civil servant from the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), said series of letters had been written to the governments and all agencies concerned, disclosing that this year, “letters were written to the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, demanding for intervention from the Global Ecological Fund and the Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Mr Agboola Ajayi, had followed it up to the presidency, hopefully, we are expecting positive response soon.”

A trader, Mrs Rachael Akinluwa, who sells fish and shrimps in the community, said things were easier for them in the past when fishermen where assessing the ocean directly from the openings in their community, but now that the entire place had been taken over by the ocean it is now costly getting to buy their commodities from other neighbouring communities.

She said this development, especially transportation, has cost the prices of fish and other sea foods to skyrocket. Akinluwa, therefore,  implored the government to help lessen the burden of the traders in the community, particularly women who she said are facing hard times with the ocean surge that is affecting every facet of their lives.

Also, the Youth Chairman of Ayetoro community, Mr Shedrack Samagbeyi, while leading the Sunday Tribune round the community, said life was becoming unbearable for the people and the community has been stretched to its limits on the issue of the ocean surge.

Shedrack, who expressed optimism that a bright future awaits the community despite the present challenge, said youths of the community remains undeterred by the problem they are facing, but will continue to join hands with the leadership of Ayetoro until success is achieved.

In their separate reactions, the Ondo State Commissioner for Environment and the Commissioner representing Ondo State on the board of the NDDC, Funso Esan and Olugbenga Edema, respectively, confirmed that the threat to Ayetoro community and others on the coastline is rea. But according to them, government is making serious efforts to save the communities along the shoreline permanently from the ocean surge.

From what Sunday Tribune  witnessed at Ayetoro, if urgent intervention is not made by government very soon to protect the shoreline, Ayetoro and the entire Ilaje nation could go into extinction within the next few years.