Over 200 houses have been submerged by a ravaging surge of the Atlantic Ocean in the Ayetoro community, Ilaje local government area of Ondo State.

The recent surge was said to have begun on Monday, making affected residents flee for safety.

Secretary of the Ayetoro Youths Congress, Emmanuel Aralu, said more than half of the community has been submerged over the years due to the failure of successive administrations to curb the menace.

Aralu stated that hundreds of homes and properties including schools, hospitals and business centers have been lost to the ocean.

He said contractors mobilised to the site for the dredging of the ocean did not do any work.

“Government has abandoned the community to be at the mercy of ecological disasters.

“The ocean surge has been threatening of the existence of the Ayetoro community and this had been happening for the past 20 years, the level of destruction cannot be qualified again. From 2015 till date, the community has lost over 10 kilometers of the landscape to the ravaging sea surge.

“This time around no fewer than 500 to 700 buildings has been destroyed or washed off with properties worth millions of naira washed away. We have cried to the state and Federal government but all efforts to get government attention have proven abortive.

“We are calling on the government at all levels to please come to our aid. We want to appeal to all relevant agencies and authorities concerned to help save Aiyetoro community from going into extinction”

Edward Ikuesan, a resident in the community, said the Ayetoro community might soon exist in a few years’ time

The traditional ruler of the town, the Ogeleoyinbo of Aiyetoro, Oba Micah Olaseni Ajijo, said the international agreement on carbon cap was not implemented and oil companies off the coast of Aiyetoro still flare their gas, not minding the environmental challenges on coastal communities. (The Nation)

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