There is urgent need for cohesive efforts that will ensure Aiyetoro community in Ilaje local government Area of Ondo South is reclaimed from being submerged by the ocean threat.
Senator Dayo Faduyile made this clarion call while appearing as a Guest on NTA INTERNATIONAL’S Prime time programme ‘Political update’ on Friday October 9. He said Aiyetoro is gradually going under water as ocean surge which has violently poached on the community has become more daring with a submerging persistence which has claimed a reasonable stretch of the community, displacing the local residents from their ancestral home.
He gave assurance that the matter deserves a national attention, hence he will move a motion on the ocean surge of the people of Aiyetoro with a bid to draw the attention of the Federal government and all concerned agencies to give succour and end the threat of the ocean in the community.
Faduyile explained that Ondo South is naturally blessed with natural resources, adding that the second largest world deposit of Bitumen is located beneath the soil of Ondo South, adding that it is good to know that the bill on the Bitumen is currently awaiting Presidential assent.
He explained further that Ondo South also has silica deposit which can be used for production of phone hardwares with assurance that efforts will be geared towards proposing bills that will ensure government consent for the exploration of those natural resources nature has endowed Ondo South District with.
Using the benefit of his professional background as a medical Doctor and based on his membership on the senate committee on Health ( secondary and Tertiary) the professor of pathology and Forensic medicine said he will soon propose a motion on mandatory cervical cancer training at Plenary, noting that Cancer challenge, its advocacy, control and awareness for both prevention and treatment has become a matter that needs legislative backing.
There are strong published scientific measurements showing how real the threat of the ocean surge to Aiyetoro community is.
A 2024 peer-reviewed study, in a journal of marine science and Engineering, examined the Ilaje coastline using satellite imagery from 1986-2020 and another one separately mapped Aiyetoro from 2008-2023, it found out that 86% of the wider study experience erosion.
By August 13, 2024, there was another assessment carried out by National Emergency management Authority, NEMA and Ondo state Emergency officials which assessed the ocean surge in Ilaje and their report described more than 15km of shoreline lost, 1,820 buildings submerged, 2,470 households displaced and 14,820 people affected across the communities within the affected Area (source NEMA assessment).
The proposed elevation of Aiyetoro community plight from a local environmental concern to that of a national matter requiring urgent Federal attention could provide a parliamentary avenue to press for Federal attention, funding, technical assessment and coordinated shoreline protection.
