AYETORO, Nigeria (AP) — The Nigerian coastal community of Ayetoro was founded decades ago and nicknamed the “Happy Town,” destined to be a sinless, classless Christian utopia. But now the remaining residents can do little about the rising sea.
Buildings sank into the Atlantic Ocean, an increasingly common sight along West Africa’s vulnerable coast. Old wood emerges from the waves like rotten teeth. Shattered foundations line the shore. Waves crash against abandoned electrical poles.
For years, low-lying nations have warned the world about the existential threat of rising seas. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, is struggling to respond. Some plans to address coastal protection, even for Ayetoro, have come to nothing in a nation where corruption and mismanagement are widespread.
Prayers against rising seas are “on everyone’s lips” at church every Sunday, according to youth leader Thompson Akingboye. But they know the solution will require much more.
Even the church was moved away from the sea, twice. “The current location is also threatened, with the sea just 30 meters (98 feet) away,” Akingboye said.
Thousands of people left. Of those who remain, Stephen Tunlese can only look at the remains of his clothing store from a distance.
Tunlese said he lost an investment of eight million naira, or the equivalent of $5,500, to the sea. Now he adapts to an aquatic future. He repairs canoes.
“I will stay in Ayetoro because this is my father’s land, this is a historic land,” he said.
The muddy coast of Mahin, where the community is fleeing, has lost more than 10 square kilometers, or nearly 60% of its land, to the ocean over the past three decades.
Researchers studying satellite images of the Nigerian coast say a number of things are contributing to Ayetoro’s disappearance.
Underwater oil drilling is one of the reasons, according to marine geologist Olusegun Dada, a professor at the Federal University of Technology, Akure who has studied satellite images for years. As resources are extracted, the ground may sink.
But he and his colleagues point to other reasons, including deforestation of the mangroves that help anchor the land and erosion caused by ocean waves.
“When we started coming to this community, we had fresh water,” Dada said. Today, the freshwater ecosystem is transforming into a marine and salty ecosystem.
Transformation is extremely expensive in Nigeria. The World Bank, in a 2020 report, estimated the cost of coastal degradation in three other Nigerian coastal states – near Lagos, Delta and Cross River – at US$9.7 billion, or more than 2% of the country’s GDP. It analyzed erosion, flooding, mangrove loss and pollution, and noted the high rate of urbanization.
And yet, dramatic images of coastal communities on the run only capture Nigeria’s attention every now and then, such as when annual floods occur — another effect of climate change.
But Ayetoro residents cannot turn their backs.
“Ayetoro was like a paradise, a city where everyone lived with joy and happiness,” said Arowolo Mofeoluwa, a retired civil servant.
She estimated that two-thirds of the community was slowly swept away by the waves, along with multiple attempts to rebuild by some residents.
“This is the third house we have lived in, and there are some living in the fourth house now, and we don’t have enough space for ourselves again. Four or five people living in a small room, you can imagine how painful it is,” said Mofeoluwa.
“If you look at where the sea is now, that’s the end of ancient Ayetoro.”
For the traditional leader of the community and head of the local church, Oluwambe Ojagbohunmi, the pain is not only in the loss of land, but also in “what we are losing in our sociocultural and religious identity”.
Some residents say that even cemeteries were destroyed.
Earlier this year, the Ondo State government announced a commitment to finding “lasting solutions” to the threat to Ayetoro. But residents said this has been promised in the past.
It may be too late for the efforts to be effective, Dada said. He has been waiting for years for environmental research to be carried out to better understand what is causing the community to disappear. But this was in vain.
The Niger Delta Development Commission, a government body designed in part to address 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 a coastal protection project in Ayetoro. A photo shows a plaque marking the achievement with the motto “Determined to make a difference!”
The project was awarded two decades ago. Project status: “In progress”.
Residents say nothing started.
“We believe that help will come one day,” said youth leader Akingboye.
___ The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and areas of coverage funded in AP.org.
