AYETORO, THE SINKING COMMUNITY
Ayetoro built its own homes, schools, healthcare infrastructure, tourist facilities, industries and an agro-marine economy. Now, about 90 per cent of the once thriving coastal settlement is gone, submerged by rising sea waves amid the exploratory activities of oil multinationals, write ROBERT EGBE, OGUNLADE OLAMIDE, ZIKORA IBEH and NEIMA HELLEN
Ayetoro had 45 streets. Now only two remain.
One runs between the monarch’s large, gold, three-storey palace with the helipad on top, and what used to be a neat row of small cabins, lined side by side.
It is named Oyetomi, meaning “the title is adequate for me.”
In the old days, if you sat in the sitting room of the first house on Oyetomi Street and looked in a straight line through its opened front door, you could see whoever was seated in the sitting room of the last house on the row, if all the doors were open.
And then, if you stepped outside your front door and looked to the right and left, you could see the town’s shoe factory and other factories on one end of the street, while its bakery, schools, health centres, etc, were all nearby.
The church – a symbol of Ayetoro’s theocratic administration – catered for everyone, and before long, the town earned the epithet “The Happy City”.
But these days nobody lives in most of the houses anymore, especially the ones directly opposite the palace, or what is left of them.
OIL EXPLORATION AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Anthony Olasele knows the community well. His father’s and mother’s houses were on opposite sides of Oyetomi Street. His dad later moved into the palace when he became the Oba (king) of Ayetoro over two decades ago.
The house on Oyetomi Street where his family lived before his dad ascended the throne, no longer exists; it is now under the sea. He attributes the problem to climate change and oil exploration.
“This is what decades of oil exploration by multinational companies and the negligence of the Nigerian government has done to my people and the people of the Niger Delta region,” Olasele said.
The other inhabitants of the area moved when the sea, about 20 kilometres away, came calling on Ayetoro and refused to leave.
The sea incursions flooded almost everywhere. The monarch’s palace stands in ruin, its courtyard surrounded by brackish, stagnant water. The formerly magnificent three-storey building now lies submerged eight feet underwater, its first floor entirely buried.
Now, following what experts say is caused by climate change and the activities of oil firms prospecting for black gold in the area, the rising sea levels have taken over three-quarters of the once bustling town, forcing its inhabitants to move a third time to their current abode.
Across the town now stand squalid wooden shanties connected by networks of frail, choppy boardwalks, all supported by stilts dug into the swamps.
Remnants of historical buildings in the community bear scars from the sharp bites of unyielding ocean waves, even while others lie submerged beneath dark oil-coated waters.
Other scars are invisible but personal to the people.
“The only memories I have of my childhood are pictures,” Olasele said.
“When I was a child, the sea was far from our house. At night we would be watching gas flaring from afar and marvel at the fire, but we didn’t know that the fire was an existential threat to us and would take our ancestral land.”
He described the situation after oil exploration & drilling as an “ecological disaster”.
According to him, “The entire Ilaje is in jeopardy. Ayetoro may be the first domino to fall but many more towns will be wiped out.”
This is the sad story of Ayetoro, Nigeria’s sinking community.
TOWN OF PROPHETS
Ayetoro, in Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State, Nigeria, was a model town founded by a revolutionary group of prophets who hailed from different communities in the Ilaje coastal area.
In stark contrast to the prevailing practices of their era, these Christian prophets preached against the prevalent and evil tradition of killing twins in the early 1940s.
However, as time passed, they became perceived as outcasts within the communities they resided in and viewed as disruptors of tradition. Subsequently, they faced persecution and ostracization from their families and relatives.
On January 12, 1947, this group of prophets and their adherents, bound by a common faith and societal discrimination, decided to relocate to a new land and live independently, following divine guidance received during a prayer session on January 10, 1947.
Among the founding fathers who embarked on this remarkable journey to Ayetoro were Zaccheus Okenla who led the movement, Zachaeus Ọmọtowa, Zachaeus Ilela Ẹnigbokun, Moses Shaeyi, Ebenezer Shaeyi, Matthew Obebe, and Ọba Ethiopia Ojagbohunmi Peter, the first ‘Ogeloyinbo’ (Ọba of Ayetoro community).
The Oba of the Ayetoro community also serves as the head of the church, and his council manages the community and religious administrative matters.
Following its unique political and social framework, which guaranteed equality and a sense of belonging for all indigenes, the town quickly became one of the country’s most prosperous riverine settlements.
The indigenes were reputed for their commercial living and relatively advanced technology in fishing, transportation and industry, such as carpentry, furniture and shoe making, bakery, soap making, textile and marine business.
Before long, Ayetoro attracted the attention of the country’s pre-independence Western Region government and its premier, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, whose official helicopter often landed on the roof of the monarch’s palace.
The community entered bilateral agreements with several countries, leading to scholarships for its students in the then West Germany, Hungary, Austria, the United Kingdom and the communist world, particularly the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
CHANGING WEATHER PATTERNS
Evidence of climate change is also obvious in Ayetoro.
Residents told Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) that before the arrival of oil multinationals, Ayetoro had a predictable weather pattern.
The rainy season was always between April and November, while the dry season was between December and March, with an average precipitation of 164.8cm.
But the situation is changing. The temperature and humidity have increased to 28-30 degrees and 60-100% respectively.
These variations have had a massive blow on the agricultural and food system, livelihood, and health of Ayetoro’s residents.
A CAPPA visit to the area in September 2023 found that Ayetoro was experiencing a massive decline in its natural environment, marine ecosystem and biodiversity.
Ogunlade Olamide, who heads CAPPA’s Climate Change programme, said: “We found, as claimed by the residents, that 70 per cent of the land in the community was under water. Children’s schools had been relocated more than four times as floods continued to ravage the community, bringing undesirable consequences, including waterborne diseases, and the destruction of farmlands and residential houses. This worrying reality justifies the agitation for reparation.”
And the situation is worsening. Faced with these scary existential crises, the community on May 29, 2024, staged a “mother of all protests” to draw attention to its plight.
On June 20, 2024, Ayetoro’s residents woke up to see their canoes floating on a turbulent shore. A massive flood, ocean surge and rising sea railed against their fragile homes and shops. There was no rain, rather the community was the victim of the runoff from the excess water from nearby communities such as Ogbese, Okitipupa and Ore, which emptied into the sea/lagoon. Geologically, Ayetoro is a slope hence its susceptibility to water run-offs.
The relics that littered the sinking community were no match for the rising wave and the turbulent incursions and Ayetoro’s buildings gave way in their numbers.
When CAPPA, on behalf of the Storytelling, returned to the beleaguered coastal town on August 28, 2024, about 90 per cent of the once thriving community had slipped into the Atlantic Ocean, rendering more than 5,000 individuals homeless, schools, health centres and other critical infrastructure destroyed.
“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 Oba Oluwambe Ojagbohunmi, Ayetoro’s monarch, 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 lamented.
HOW THE SEA INCURSIONS BEGAN
According to Oba Ojagbohunmi, ‘‘In the later part of the 80s when oil exploration started, people noticed that it used to be a normal cycle of the sea to take a few portions of our land away and in another six months re-add the land portions back or more. That was normal, but in the later part of the 80s, the rate at which it was taking the soil was higher than the rate at which it was adding mud to it, and people started to wonder what was happening.
“Ayetoro used to be far from the sea. People who come now may wonder why Ayetoro was built close to the sea. It was not established close to the sea; it used to be several kilometres away. It was even a challenge for our fathers back then, who used to walk long distances from the sea back home after fishing and conducting other businesses by the sea. It was the sea that started to move closer and closer until it started eating our land.
“By the early 90s, the community started complaining to the government and its agencies but got no serious response until 2000 and 2001 when we realised that the sea was really close. At this time, it had destroyed our football pitch and some of the industries located near the sea.”
FAILED GOVERNMENT INTERVENTIONS
Worried by the growing sea incursions, residents began to seek government interventions to address the issue. In 2003, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) awarded a contract to Gallet Nigeria Limited to build a seashore line wall at the sum of N6.4 billion with an upfront payment of 25 per cent. But, according to locals, this contract seemed more like a story than reality.
“We only read about the news on television and news. Up till now, we never saw the contractor or NDDC to tell us the status of operations, so we continued our agitation until 2009. Our people even started to build embankments with wood. Right now, what we have is just 20 per cent of what used to be our land.’’ Oba Ojagbohunmi said of the contract awarded to Gallet Nigeria Limited.
Again, in 2009, the hopes of Ayetoro residents for relief were crushed when the NDDC re-awarded the contract costing N6.5 billion to Dredging Atlantic, with a mobilisation fee of N2.5 billion, yet, no tangible outcome and progress were achieved.
LAMENTATIONS
Mrs MofeOluwa Arowolo, the community’s Women Leader, highlighted other problems residents face.
“We used to have about two or three secondary schools in the community, this unending ocean surge has reduced the number to one, causing a high increase in the number of out-of-school pupils in the community. This is potentially dangerous to the future of the community,” Arowolo said.
Lawrence Lemamu, President of the Ondo State Fishers Association, also bemoaned their lot and appealed for help.
He said: “My father’s house has given way to the ocean surge, I now live on a borrowed space, and my children are scattered all over. Ayetoro, since its inception, was built without any government support. Now we need government intervention, and it is urgent.”
Lisa Olayinka Stella, one of the community’s schoolteachers, urged the government to step in.
“The sea surge has forced us to relocate our schools more than four times, thereby reducing student enrolment. This is our future being threatened, and we don’t know if we are going to win. Government must do the needful and save our souls,” she said.
“Ayetoro community is a theocratic autonomous Christian Community. Initially the community was 15-20 km landmass away from the sea, but now the oceans are closer to our noses. The surge has destroyed our houses and properties. It has shattered our livelihood and businesses. We are now living in abject poverty. Government agencies should come to our aid,” added Comrade Omoyele Thompson, Ayetoro’s Public Relations Officer
COMMUNITY EFFORTS
In January 2024, the government of Ondo State announced that it would soon unveil an action plan for a lasting solution to the perennial ocean surge ravaging Aiyetoro. Nothing has been done since.
Tired of the endless wait for government support, the community in September unveiled a concrete slab it constructed to break the waves and end further sea incursions.
According to the monarch, testing was successful.
Oba Ojagbohunmi said: “This is a prototype of a concrete slab designed and constructed by Ayetoro to serve as a wave breaker to stop the sea from further encroachment. It has been pushed to the sea, and it has been tested, and it stood against the worst of waves.
“We need to build over 2,000 of this as a temporary measure to save our remaining lands and buildings before the main job will be done. We seek support and collaboration from governments at all levels, international organizations, NGOs, corporations and individuals to save this beautiful city.”
URGENCY OF HELP
For the Executive Director of CAPPA, Akinbode Oluwafemi, Ayetoro’s plight is but one tragic chapter in the vast tonne of suffering endured by frontline communities in Africa for crimes against nature they did not partake in. Despite the insignificant contribution of the continent to global emissions, it continues to bear the biggest brunt, making the once fertile region now a sacrificial zone.
“The urgency of help needed to rehabilitate communities underscores the critical need to swiftly conclude global discussions on the Loss and Damage Fund for the vulnerable Global South. Additionally, resolute and not political actions must be taken to hold historical polluters and disruptors of nature accountable for their transgressions. The deadlock situation of climate action, fuelled by blame games and false solutions, must come to an end. Global actors and state authorities must turn words to actions that provide relief for the millions across Africa afflicted by climate change,” he emphasised.
AFRICA MAKE BIG POLLUTERS PAY COALITION
“The above narrative of the Ayetoro community is not merely a tale of loss; it is a sad reflection of the profound impact that oil extraction has had on a once vibrant and flourishing society. The scars of environmental degradation have stripped away their cultural heritage, disrupted their livelihoods, and denied them the fundamental right to a clean and healthy environment. It is for these reasons that the Africa Make Big Polluters Pay Coalition, through our storytelling platform, stands in solidarity with the advocates in Nigeria, amplifying the voices of the Ayetoro community. We are committed to shedding light on this grave injustice and urging government action to restore hope and dignity to a community that deserves so much more,” said Neima Hellen, Corporate Accountability, Africa Climate Director and Africa Make Big Polluters Pay Coordinator.
The story is a partnership between CAPPA and Corporate Accountability (CA) for the Story Telling Platform (STP) of the Make Big Polluters Pay (MBPP) campaign.