Ayetoro: Coastal Nigerian Community Aytoro was established decades ago and was nicknamed the “Happy City”, which meant Christian utopia It will be sinless and classless. But now its surviving inhabitants can do nothing against the rising sea.
Buildings have sunk into the Atlantic Ocean, an increasingly common sight along the vulnerable West African coast.Old logs stick out of the waves like rotten teeth. Broken foundations are scattered along the shore. Waves crash against abandoned power poles.
For years, low-lying countries have been warning the world about the dangers of rising seas. NigeriaAfrica’s most populous country has struggled to address the problem. Some plans to address shoreline protection, even Ayetoro’s, have proven futile in a country where corruption and mismanagement are widespread.
According to youth leader Thompson Akingboye, every Sunday at church “prayers against rising sea levels are on everyone’s lips.” But they know a lot more will be needed to find a solution.
Even the church has been moved away from the sea twice. “The current location is also at risk now because the sea is only 30 metres (98 feet) away,” Akingboye said.
Thousands have left. Of those who remain, Stefan Tunnlesse can only look at the remains of his clothing shop from a distance.
Tunlese said he lost eight million naira, or the equivalent of $5,500, in the sea. Now he is adapting to a water-related future. He repairs canoes.
“I will stay in Ayetoro because it is my father’s land, it is heritage land,” he said.
The Mahin Mud Coast, where this disappearing community is located, has lost more than 10 square kilometres, or about 60% of its land, to the sea in the past three decades.
Researchers who studied satellite images of Nigeria’s coast say there are multiple reasons behind Ayetoro’s disappearance.
Underwater oil drilling is one cause, according to Olusegun Dada, a professor and marine geologist at the Federal University of Technology in Akure who has studied satellite imagery for years. As resources are extracted, the land can sink.
But he and his colleagues also cite other causes, including the deforestation of Earth-supporting mangrove forests and erosion by sea waves.
“When we started coming to this community, we had fresh water,” Dada said. Today, the freshwater ecosystem is changing to a salty, marine ecosystem.
In Nigeria, this transformation is costly. The World Bank estimated in a 2020 report that coastal erosion in Lagos, Delta and three other nearby coastal Nigerian states of Cross River cost $9.7 billion, more than 2% of the country’s GDP. It looked at erosion, flooding, loss of mangroves and pollution, and noted high rates of urbanization.
However, dramatic images of coastal communities vanishing periodically capture Nigeria’s attention, as do other impacts when annual floods occur. Climate change,
But Ayetoro residents cannot turn their back on it.
“Ayetoro was like a paradise, a town where everybody lived happily,” said retired civil servant Arowolo Mofeoluwa.
He estimated that about two-thirds of the community had been slowly washed away by the waves, with some residents making several attempts to rebuild.
“This is the third house we are living in, and the fourth house also has some people living in it, and we don’t have enough space for ourselves. Four or five people living in one small room, you can imagine how painful it is,” Mofioluwa said.
“If you look at where the sea is now, that is the end of the former Ayetoro.”
For Oluwambe Ojagbohunmi, the community’s traditional leader and head of the local church, the pain is not just the loss of land, but “we are also losing our socio-cultural and religious identity.”
Some residents say even cemeteries have been washed away.
Earlier this year, the Ondo State government announced a commitment to find a “lasting solution” to the threat to Ayetoro. But residents say this promise has been made before.
Dada said it’s probably too late for the efforts to be effective. For years, he has hoped an environmental survey would be carried out to better understand what is causing the community to disappear. But it has been in vain.
The Niger Delta Development Commission, a government body aimed in part at addressing environmental and other issues caused by oil exploration, did not respond to questions from The Associated Press about efforts to protect the community’s coastline.
The commission’s website lists the shoreline protection project in Ayetoro. A photo shows a sign marking the achievement, which bears the motto, “Determined to make a difference!”
The project was approved two decades ago. Project status: “Ongoing.”
Residents say that nothing ever started here.
“We believe that one day help will come,” said youth leader Akingboye.
Buildings have sunk into the Atlantic Ocean, an increasingly common sight along the vulnerable West African coast.Old logs stick out of the waves like rotten teeth. Broken foundations are scattered along the shore. Waves crash against abandoned power poles.
For years, low-lying countries have been warning the world about the dangers of rising seas. NigeriaAfrica’s most populous country has struggled to address the problem. Some plans to address shoreline protection, even Ayetoro’s, have proven futile in a country where corruption and mismanagement are widespread.
According to youth leader Thompson Akingboye, every Sunday at church “prayers against rising sea levels are on everyone’s lips.” But they know a lot more will be needed to find a solution.
Even the church has been moved away from the sea twice. “The current location is also at risk now because the sea is only 30 metres (98 feet) away,” Akingboye said.
Thousands have left. Of those who remain, Stefan Tunnlesse can only look at the remains of his clothing shop from a distance.
Tunlese said he lost eight million naira, or the equivalent of $5,500, in the sea. Now he is adapting to a water-related future. He repairs canoes.
“I will stay in Ayetoro because it is my father’s land, it is heritage land,” he said.
The Mahin Mud Coast, where this disappearing community is located, has lost more than 10 square kilometres, or about 60% of its land, to the sea in the past three decades.
Researchers who studied satellite images of Nigeria’s coast say there are multiple reasons behind Ayetoro’s disappearance.
Underwater oil drilling is one cause, according to Olusegun Dada, a professor and marine geologist at the Federal University of Technology in Akure who has studied satellite imagery for years. As resources are extracted, the land can sink.
But he and his colleagues also cite other causes, including the deforestation of Earth-supporting mangrove forests and erosion by sea waves.
“When we started coming to this community, we had fresh water,” Dada said. Today, the freshwater ecosystem is changing to a salty, marine ecosystem.
In Nigeria, this transformation is costly. The World Bank estimated in a 2020 report that coastal erosion in Lagos, Delta and three other nearby coastal Nigerian states of Cross River cost $9.7 billion, more than 2% of the country’s GDP. It looked at erosion, flooding, loss of mangroves and pollution, and noted high rates of urbanization.
However, dramatic images of coastal communities vanishing periodically capture Nigeria’s attention, as do other impacts when annual floods occur. Climate change,
But Ayetoro residents cannot turn their back on it.
“Ayetoro was like a paradise, a town where everybody lived happily,” said retired civil servant Arowolo Mofeoluwa.
He estimated that about two-thirds of the community had been slowly washed away by the waves, with some residents making several attempts to rebuild.
“This is the third house we are living in, and the fourth house also has some people living in it, and we don’t have enough space for ourselves. Four or five people living in one small room, you can imagine how painful it is,” Mofioluwa said.
“If you look at where the sea is now, that is the end of the former Ayetoro.”
For Oluwambe Ojagbohunmi, the community’s traditional leader and head of the local church, the pain is not just the loss of land, but “we are also losing our socio-cultural and religious identity.”
Some residents say even cemeteries have been washed away.
Earlier this year, the Ondo State government announced a commitment to find a “lasting solution” to the threat to Ayetoro. But residents say this promise has been made before.
Dada said it’s probably too late for the efforts to be effective. For years, he has hoped an environmental survey would be carried out to better understand what is causing the community to disappear. But it has been in vain.
The Niger Delta Development Commission, a government body aimed in part at addressing environmental and other issues caused by oil exploration, did not respond to questions from The Associated Press about efforts to protect the community’s coastline.
The commission’s website lists the shoreline protection project in Ayetoro. A photo shows a sign marking the achievement, which bears the motto, “Determined to make a difference!”
The project was approved two decades ago. Project status: “Ongoing.”
Residents say that nothing ever started here.
“We believe that one day help will come,” said youth leader Akingboye.
