Ayetoro is a Yoruba name literally indicating a calm and settled world. However, Ayetoro coastal community in Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State is unsettled, following a recent flood which ravaged the area. Hakeem Gbadamosi, who visited the area to feel the pulse of the community, reports.
Ocean surge is not alien to the people of the coastal community of Ayetoro in Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State. However, economic and social activities of the people of the community were brought to a standstill, as many of the residents in the community are battling to save some of their properties washed away by the surge.
However, when the people of the community realised the situation was more than they could handle, they cried out to the state government, seeking assistance which in turn sent a powerful delegation, led by the Commissioner for Environment in the state, Barrister Sola Ebiseni and some officials of the Ondo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (OSOPADEC), to assess the situation.
Background history of Ayetoro
In the early part of 1940s, a group of militant Christians known as Omo Oba Jesu came into the coastal part of Ilaje in the Southern part of Ondo State. This group of Christians preachers, called the Holy Apostles, on January 12, 1947, converged on a piece of land at Atlantic Ocean and established their church and settlement called Ayetoro.
They have a unique way of communal relationship in that the Holy Apostles, as they called their community, hold everything in common. At that early part, no one was allowed to acquire or have his own property, as everything is owned in common. Their peculiar way of life and place of settlement was initially opposed by the paramount rulers of Ilaje land, the Amapetu of Mahin and the Olugbo of Ugboland.
It took the intervention of colonial authority through the Secreatry of Ondo Province then who wrote a letter dated 4th December, 1949 and conveyed it to the Holy Apostles Church of Ayetoro, a lease of landed property of large hectares of lands to be held as estate in fees simple possession.
This was after an agreement had been reached between the Ilaje native authority represented by the Amapetu of Mahin as the president and Olugbo of Ugbo as his vice president on one hand and the Holy Apostles on the other hand on May 25, 1949 and witnessed by District Office from Okitipupa division
The said land is bounded by North-East by Erunna village, on the South-East by Alagbon Village and North-East by Idi Ogba and South-West by the Atlantic ocean.
The Ilaje native authority agreed to allow the Apostles to operate their church under lands perpetual succession ordinance and to respect the right of the apostles to live in the Ayetoro town while both parties agreed to recognise the authority of the native authority and to stop all cases against the authority in the magistrate and in the Ilaje native court.
The people of Ayetoro are reputed for their commercial living and advanced technology in fishing, transportation, industry such as carpentry and furniture, shoe making and marine business.
The town was said to be popular so much to attract the attention of Chief Obafemi Awolowo and the communist world in the 1950s, particularly the USSR. Many of the children from Ayetoro were educated through a bilateral agreement with countries like USSR, West Germany, Hungary and Austria and United Kingdom.
However, a decline in Ayetoro community’s way of life set in, in the 1970s when ownership of private properties was gradually being introduced in the reign of their flamboyant leader, Oba Akinlua, but the collapse of the communist world, particularly the USSR, in the 80s, also had its own toll on Ayetoro too, leaving and limiting communal ownership only in the area of Holy Apostle Church, Cathedral, the City Hall, educational institutions, particularly the famous Happy City College and technical workshop, where children are being commonly trained by the community which is now taken over by the state government.
The Surge
Speaking on their predicament, a community leader, Orimisan Asemudara, told Sunday Tribune that they were used to the surge, but the penultimate week surge dealt a great blow on the people and residents of the community, explaining that they had all gone to bed on that fateful day when the heavens opened with downpour. He said many of the residents believed it was a normal rain, but many of the residents were forced out of bed when flood took control of the whole community.
He noted that the community had solicited assistance from all relevant agencies in the past, including the federal and state governments over the ocean surge that had claimed one of the prestigious secondary in the area, Happy City College, saying the school was now in the deep of the ocean now.
Asemudara explained further that some officials of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) visited some years ago to assess how the surge could be curtailed. He said: “‘They showed every seriousness to put an end to our plight but the project never saw the light of the day, adding that the community had sent a delegation to the NDDC office in Igbokoda times without number, but that the officials never attended to them.
Complementing Asemudara’s claims, another indigene of the aquatic community, Dennis Kudehinbu, said the Ayetoro seashore project would go down in history as one of many shoddily-handled multimillion Naira projects in the country. He noted that the project would have been completed by now, but the money had went down the drain “simply because they knew we can’t complain and even if we do, the matter will be swept under the carpet. We understand the project was awarded to one Dredging Atlantic who never showed up at all.”
Kudehinbu believed that the poor handling of work was not unconnected with the long history of government and officials in authorities condoning irregularities.
“There is a common parlance that corruption in Nigeria today has become very endemic that has come to stay with us, because if you are given a project to do and those who gave you the project cannot monitor you very well, then it will be difficult to do the project. They will even be telling the government that it has been done and the government officials will come and say that it has been done.
“Because we have seen in the paper where they write that Ayetoro sea protection project has almost been completed but nothing has been done. Corruption in the high places, those who gave out the contract, those to execute the project, they are all involved in this thing.
“The Chairman of Dredging Atlantic never visited the site since it has been awarded. We have written several letters. When a contract is awarded to a company, you are supposed to come to the site and introduce the owner of the company or their managing director to us, but he has not visited the site since then.
“We complained to NDDC officials several times. But he said he would be attending a meeting with us but ever since, he has been sending representatives. At times, they would not be able to answer some of the questions we ask, so we address them and they will go back to report to the chairman of the company. It has been on and on like that.”
Another indigene of the community, Tope Eliphaus, said the greatest challenge of the existence of the sprawling community life of Ayetoro is the Atlantic Ocean, which had washed away the larger part of the Southern boundary of the community.
He explained that successive governments both at the state and federal levels have evidently paid lips service to solving the problem of ocean surge in Ayetoro, particularly the muddy coast of Ondo State, which is exclusively inhabited by Yoruba speaking Ilaje people which territory gives state inclusion into the elite club of the oil producing state of Nigeria.
Despite the Ilaje oil wealth, the development in the area has abysmally poor infrastructure.
“Attempt of controlling the ocean surge at the Ayetoro portion of the Atlantic coast has been a matter of politics, particularly since the return of democracy in 1999, successive administrations in the state since the time of Adefarati, Agagu and Mimiko have declared that the task was beyond the financial capacity of the state government.
“The Federal Government, through one its agencies, NDDC, sometimes in early 2000 was said to have awarded a multi-billion Naira contract for the shore protection at Ayetoro.
According to him, ‘‘the project was first awarded to Gallet Nigeria Limited at a cost of N650 million in 2004 before it was reportedly terminated and re-awarded to Dredging Atlantic Nigeria Limited in 2009 for N6.5 billion there was no sign that such a project was awarded in the community .
He lamented that the incident had wrecked havoc on the community, and appealed to the stakeholders, especially the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the state government to assist the victim.
A visit to the site by the Sunday Tribune, however, showed no trace of work done by the contractor except a mere heap of sand and some of the contractor’s equipment at the point of operation and a decretive caterpillar at the site.
The newly-installed traditional ruler of the community, Prince Micah Olaseeni Ajijo, described the incident as tragic, devastating and unfortunate, calling for help from all quarters. He said a greater percentage of his people had been without shelter after the unfortunate incident.
“We need a permanent solution to this problem, the ocean surge is frequent at this time of the year, but we are calling on the Federal Government to come to our aid by constructing shoreline protection here. that is what can bring permanent solution to the problem.
“ We appreciate the quick response of the state government, because immediately the incident happened, the state Commissioner for Environment came here to assess the situation and promised to assist us, but all we need is a permanent solution.”
All our attempts to speak with the officials of the NDDC at its office situated in Igbokoda, headquarters of Ilaje Local government, was not successful as some of the workers declined comment on the development while they said the officer to shed light on the project was away on official assignment.
However, the visit made by the state Commissioner of Environment, Ebiseni, who was in the area to assess the level of destruction restored the hope of the people. The commissioner assured the people that immediate intervention and relief would be delivered to the victims of the recent ocean surge.
Ebiseni, who was received by the youth of the community, who displayed placards with various inscriptions such as “Ayetoro says no to sea incursion, “sea surge; Ondo State Government save our land of birth,” “ Ayetoro community dying from sea incursion,” among others, pleaded for prompt intervention, while the commissioner assured the people that government would intervene immediately by giving them relief materials.
Ebiseni informed the people that the state government received a report on the natural and ecological hazard that occurred in the community which destroyed buildings, properties and infrastructure worth millions of naira.
He said: “A report was sent to the governor of Ondo State and to our ministry to come and see the damage being done to the community by ocean surge,” noting that he knew the level of the damage done so far as an indigene of the riverine area.
He said though the sea had receded before his arrival, the effects of the surge seen while traversing the length and breadth of the community underscored the negative impacts of the disaster on the people and said “nature is so precious to us and we can not allow the ecological problem peculiar to this area to erode away the rich cultural heritage and notable civilisation of the area,” but assured the residents of quick government’s intervention.
Ebiseni, who is the former chairman of the local government, lamented the sordid state of the area, especially the memorial Happy City College, which he confirmed had produced many illustrious sons and daughters of the land.
The environment commissioner assured the people that, as a matter of urgency, the state government and other agencies would expedite actions on proffering lasting solutions to the problem, which he said, was the priority of Governor Olusegun Mimiko.
Ebiseni promised that the state government would rebuild the Happy City College and the primary school affected by the surge in no distant time and commended the residents over the maturity exhibited in maintaining peace and orderliness during the disaster, saying disasters lesser than the surge in magnitude resulted into civil strife in some parts of the Niger Delta.
However, when the people of the community realised the situation was more than they could handle, they cried out to the state government, seeking assistance which in turn sent a powerful delegation, led by the Commissioner for Environment in the state, Barrister Sola Ebiseni and some officials of the Ondo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (OSOPADEC), to assess the situation.
Background history of Ayetoro
In the early part of 1940s, a group of militant Christians known as Omo Oba Jesu came into the coastal part of Ilaje in the Southern part of Ondo State. This group of Christians preachers, called the Holy Apostles, on January 12, 1947, converged on a piece of land at Atlantic Ocean and established their church and settlement called Ayetoro.
They have a unique way of communal relationship in that the Holy Apostles, as they called their community, hold everything in common. At that early part, no one was allowed to acquire or have his own property, as everything is owned in common. Their peculiar way of life and place of settlement was initially opposed by the paramount rulers of Ilaje land, the Amapetu of Mahin and the Olugbo of Ugboland.
It took the intervention of colonial authority through the Secreatry of Ondo Province then who wrote a letter dated 4th December, 1949 and conveyed it to the Holy Apostles Church of Ayetoro, a lease of landed property of large hectares of lands to be held as estate in fees simple possession.
This was after an agreement had been reached between the Ilaje native authority represented by the Amapetu of Mahin as the president and Olugbo of Ugbo as his vice president on one hand and the Holy Apostles on the other hand on May 25, 1949 and witnessed by District Office from Okitipupa division
The said land is bounded by North-East by Erunna village, on the South-East by Alagbon Village and North-East by Idi Ogba and South-West by the Atlantic ocean.
The Ilaje native authority agreed to allow the Apostles to operate their church under lands perpetual succession ordinance and to respect the right of the apostles to live in the Ayetoro town while both parties agreed to recognise the authority of the native authority and to stop all cases against the authority in the magistrate and in the Ilaje native court.
The people of Ayetoro are reputed for their commercial living and advanced technology in fishing, transportation, industry such as carpentry and furniture, shoe making and marine business.
The town was said to be popular so much to attract the attention of Chief Obafemi Awolowo and the communist world in the 1950s, particularly the USSR. Many of the children from Ayetoro were educated through a bilateral agreement with countries like USSR, West Germany, Hungary and Austria and United Kingdom.
However, a decline in Ayetoro community’s way of life set in, in the 1970s when ownership of private properties was gradually being introduced in the reign of their flamboyant leader, Oba Akinlua, but the collapse of the communist world, particularly the USSR, in the 80s, also had its own toll on Ayetoro too, leaving and limiting communal ownership only in the area of Holy Apostle Church, Cathedral, the City Hall, educational institutions, particularly the famous Happy City College and technical workshop, where children are being commonly trained by the community which is now taken over by the state government.
The Surge
Speaking on their predicament, a community leader, Orimisan Asemudara, told Sunday Tribune that they were used to the surge, but the penultimate week surge dealt a great blow on the people and residents of the community, explaining that they had all gone to bed on that fateful day when the heavens opened with downpour. He said many of the residents believed it was a normal rain, but many of the residents were forced out of bed when flood took control of the whole community.
He noted that the community had solicited assistance from all relevant agencies in the past, including the federal and state governments over the ocean surge that had claimed one of the prestigious secondary in the area, Happy City College, saying the school was now in the deep of the ocean now.
Asemudara explained further that some officials of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) visited some years ago to assess how the surge could be curtailed. He said: “‘They showed every seriousness to put an end to our plight but the project never saw the light of the day, adding that the community had sent a delegation to the NDDC office in Igbokoda times without number, but that the officials never attended to them.
Complementing Asemudara’s claims, another indigene of the aquatic community, Dennis Kudehinbu, said the Ayetoro seashore project would go down in history as one of many shoddily-handled multimillion Naira projects in the country. He noted that the project would have been completed by now, but the money had went down the drain “simply because they knew we can’t complain and even if we do, the matter will be swept under the carpet. We understand the project was awarded to one Dredging Atlantic who never showed up at all.”
Kudehinbu believed that the poor handling of work was not unconnected with the long history of government and officials in authorities condoning irregularities.
“There is a common parlance that corruption in Nigeria today has become very endemic that has come to stay with us, because if you are given a project to do and those who gave you the project cannot monitor you very well, then it will be difficult to do the project. They will even be telling the government that it has been done and the government officials will come and say that it has been done.
“Because we have seen in the paper where they write that Ayetoro sea protection project has almost been completed but nothing has been done. Corruption in the high places, those who gave out the contract, those to execute the project, they are all involved in this thing.
“The Chairman of Dredging Atlantic never visited the site since it has been awarded. We have written several letters. When a contract is awarded to a company, you are supposed to come to the site and introduce the owner of the company or their managing director to us, but he has not visited the site since then.
“We complained to NDDC officials several times. But he said he would be attending a meeting with us but ever since, he has been sending representatives. At times, they would not be able to answer some of the questions we ask, so we address them and they will go back to report to the chairman of the company. It has been on and on like that.”
Another indigene of the community, Tope Eliphaus, said the greatest challenge of the existence of the sprawling community life of Ayetoro is the Atlantic Ocean, which had washed away the larger part of the Southern boundary of the community.
He explained that successive governments both at the state and federal levels have evidently paid lips service to solving the problem of ocean surge in Ayetoro, particularly the muddy coast of Ondo State, which is exclusively inhabited by Yoruba speaking Ilaje people which territory gives state inclusion into the elite club of the oil producing state of Nigeria.
Despite the Ilaje oil wealth, the development in the area has abysmally poor infrastructure.
“Attempt of controlling the ocean surge at the Ayetoro portion of the Atlantic coast has been a matter of politics, particularly since the return of democracy in 1999, successive administrations in the state since the time of Adefarati, Agagu and Mimiko have declared that the task was beyond the financial capacity of the state government.
“The Federal Government, through one its agencies, NDDC, sometimes in early 2000 was said to have awarded a multi-billion Naira contract for the shore protection at Ayetoro.
According to him, ‘‘the project was first awarded to Gallet Nigeria Limited at a cost of N650 million in 2004 before it was reportedly terminated and re-awarded to Dredging Atlantic Nigeria Limited in 2009 for N6.5 billion there was no sign that such a project was awarded in the community .
He lamented that the incident had wrecked havoc on the community, and appealed to the stakeholders, especially the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the state government to assist the victim.
A visit to the site by the Sunday Tribune, however, showed no trace of work done by the contractor except a mere heap of sand and some of the contractor’s equipment at the point of operation and a decretive caterpillar at the site.
The newly-installed traditional ruler of the community, Prince Micah Olaseeni Ajijo, described the incident as tragic, devastating and unfortunate, calling for help from all quarters. He said a greater percentage of his people had been without shelter after the unfortunate incident.
“We need a permanent solution to this problem, the ocean surge is frequent at this time of the year, but we are calling on the Federal Government to come to our aid by constructing shoreline protection here. that is what can bring permanent solution to the problem.
“ We appreciate the quick response of the state government, because immediately the incident happened, the state Commissioner for Environment came here to assess the situation and promised to assist us, but all we need is a permanent solution.”
All our attempts to speak with the officials of the NDDC at its office situated in Igbokoda, headquarters of Ilaje Local government, was not successful as some of the workers declined comment on the development while they said the officer to shed light on the project was away on official assignment.
However, the visit made by the state Commissioner of Environment, Ebiseni, who was in the area to assess the level of destruction restored the hope of the people. The commissioner assured the people that immediate intervention and relief would be delivered to the victims of the recent ocean surge.
Ebiseni, who was received by the youth of the community, who displayed placards with various inscriptions such as “Ayetoro says no to sea incursion, “sea surge; Ondo State Government save our land of birth,” “ Ayetoro community dying from sea incursion,” among others, pleaded for prompt intervention, while the commissioner assured the people that government would intervene immediately by giving them relief materials.
Ebiseni informed the people that the state government received a report on the natural and ecological hazard that occurred in the community which destroyed buildings, properties and infrastructure worth millions of naira.
He said: “A report was sent to the governor of Ondo State and to our ministry to come and see the damage being done to the community by ocean surge,” noting that he knew the level of the damage done so far as an indigene of the riverine area.
He said though the sea had receded before his arrival, the effects of the surge seen while traversing the length and breadth of the community underscored the negative impacts of the disaster on the people and said “nature is so precious to us and we can not allow the ecological problem peculiar to this area to erode away the rich cultural heritage and notable civilisation of the area,” but assured the residents of quick government’s intervention.
Ebiseni, who is the former chairman of the local government, lamented the sordid state of the area, especially the memorial Happy City College, which he confirmed had produced many illustrious sons and daughters of the land.
The environment commissioner assured the people that, as a matter of urgency, the state government and other agencies would expedite actions on proffering lasting solutions to the problem, which he said, was the priority of Governor Olusegun Mimiko.
Ebiseni promised that the state government would rebuild the Happy City College and the primary school affected by the surge in no distant time and commended the residents over the maturity exhibited in maintaining peace and orderliness during the disaster, saying disasters lesser than the surge in magnitude resulted into civil strife in some parts of the Niger Delta.
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