The efforts of the Ondo State Government to save Ayetoro Community in Ilaje Local government from going to extinction have received a positive turn around as President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly on Wednesday sent delegations to the oil rich community to assess the level of damage caused by the recurring ocean surge and to proffer solutions on how to ease the people’s conditions.

Ayetoro community, founded in 1947 by some group of Christian religious adherents and fishermen mostly of Ilaje extraction, had been battling with Atlantic sea incursion for the past 10 years and this menace had already washed away about five kilometers of the community

The recent crisis, which occurred around July this year, caught the attention of the state government as the Governor of Ondo State, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, immediately sent a delegation led by the Deputy Governor, Hon. Agboola Ajayi, to the community to sympathize with the victims and also assured them that federal government attention would be called on this,

While assessing the level of damaged caused by the ocean surge, the federal government officials led by the Minister of Environment, Ibrahim Usman Jubril, Chairman House of Representatives Committee on Environment, Hon. Obinna Chidoka and the Permanent Secretary, Ecological Fund office, Dr. Habiba Mudalawa, said their hearts are heavy seeing an oil producing community been washed away by sea.

Jubril, particularly lauded Akeredolu for being responsive to challenges of his people, assuring that the federal government would never allow Ayetoro to go into extinction.
According to the Minister, “Just last week, the complete report of ecological problems in the country were summited to the Federal Executive Council, and I know there is no state that was left out. It took couple of months for the ecological fund to send people across the county to do direct assessment and I know Ondo State is not left out. We have been in touch with the Government of Ondo State, and it has sent some representatives and we are talking with the Ecological fund office.
“We have to look at it from the perspective of short medium and long term strategy and if we are going to have a long term strategy we will need experts, not only from Nigeria but even outside the shores of Nigeria. They are people in other countries who had lived below sea level and they have been able to reclaim their lands and move forward and nothing stops us from trying to emulate them.

“We should know that there is no way we can accommodate the issue of Ayetoro through the normal annual budgetary provision. So, we need a long term plan and that means both the local government, [Ilaje], the state and the federal governments, we must put our heads together in order to ensure that we address this situation. No life is useless. Every life of a Nigerian matters to the government. We are looking at the perspective of changing the livelihood of people. It is sad for every father to see your children permanently living under water.

“Going forward, we have to continue the engagement with the state government, the federal ministry of environment and the ecological fund office. We must put all our resources together to ensure that we start from somewhere. We need to get all out academicians. There are institutions of higher learning here and I am sure that those who are experts in Marine studies, ecological issues, civil engineering and others must come together.

The House of Representatives Chairman Committee on Environment, Chidoka promised that the Assembly would throw its weight behind any ecological budget provision that will save Ayetoro from going into extinction.
On his part, the Deputy Governor, Agboola Ajayi, who led the officials on the assessment tour, commended Muhammadu Buhari’s administration for its quick response to the yearnings of the people of the state.

Ajayi noted that since the recent surge in Ayetoro community, the state government had been on the neck of the federal government on how to save the community from the Atlantic sea threatening its existence, adding that this would be the first time, a President would sent his officials to the community to have a firsthand information.

The Deputy Governor, who insisted that despite the menace had gone beyond the state government, the state had always kept in touch with the people of Ayetoro community by distributing relief materials to the victims of the ocean surge.

Nice one

Kkk