The Glare of Negligence and Impoverishment by Government Motivated My Research Work on Ayetoro Community In Ondo State.

Fallen bricks of Ayetoto Town Hall destroyed by Atlantic Ocean (Photo courtesy: Ikuemonisan Bababo)

Following severe incidents of the perennial Sea Incursion in Ayetoro Community in 2020, I developed an interest to explore the discourse.

I had therefore on the 4th March, 2021 traveled to Ondo State for the research. Born, bred and buttered in the Riverine, I wasn't actually scared of sojourning on water. But not to be alone on this trip, I stopped over at Okitipupa to see if I could  get any of my old school colleague to accompany me. Luckily, my brother Neri Adewole was on the free mode from work and he agreed to sojourn with me. 

Without wasting time, we boarded vehicle and in no distance time, we landed at the Beach in Ugbo where we got a speedboat going to Ayetoro.

Author Et Neri 

Sequel to leaving Lagos, I had made calls for the right persons to reach and who also would be readily available to take me round the community. Of cause, I love to see the facts for myself and record same objectively. Hence, the salient need for a Host community team to show us round.

On getting to Ayetoro, tears cascaded down my eyes and I couldn't hold my life together as we bore witness to the impact of the Atlantic Ocean on Ayetoro community in Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State. The impact was huge and highly devastating on the ecosystem, properties and livelihood of the people.

Atlantic ocean Overshoots Ayetoro (Photo courtesy: Ikuemonisan Bababo)

As against the images painted and figure churned out by Newspapers, Radio and Television Stations, the lost occasioned by the angry waves of the Atlantic was unquantifiable. Over 3Km of the landscape of Ayetoro has been washed away by the Atlantic ocean.

The theocratic and autonomous community,  which lies east along the coast from Nigeria’s largest economic city, Lagos and reputed to be the only community in Africa to practice communalism and during its heyday had the highest per capita income in the whole of Africa due to its early discovery of crude oil, and architectural wonders and attracted visitors, tourists and researchers from all over the globe has lost its pride of place with over four hundred buildings of its inhabitants destroyed {including its historic maiden church and its glorious Technical College}, its local economy crippled and the community tends to slide towards extinction

Maiden Ayetoro Technical College (Photo courtesy: Ikuemonisan Bababo)

A White Tourist Posts with An Indigene of Ayetoro (Photo courtesy: Ikuemonisan Bababo)

Consequently, Ayeoro fondly called "the Happy City" has ironically become a "Sad City" as Government and Multinational corporations exploring and exploiting crude oil have turned deaf ears to the passionate plea of the community for help.

As we sojourned further into the heart of the community, I could see the glare of poverty in a land so enormously endowed by God. The picture of Nigeria painted by Chief Peterside became clearer to me this moment;

"wealth sits comfortably with poverty and impoverishment and these have gone hand in hand with massive destruction of the fragile ecosystem, further destroying livelihoods"

Later in the evening, I returned to the sight of the Atlantic again, to have a glimpse, I stood there dejected that the same natural umbworld that has been put into good use by government elsewhere for tourism purpose, infrastructural development, accumulation of Internally Generated Revenue and make tremendous impact on the lives of the people is laying fallow in the coastal part of Ondo State and constituting serious nuisance to the people.

Atlantic Ocean Wrecks Havoc on Ayetoro Community, in the background the skeleton of the Maiden Church of Ayetoro (Photo courtesy: Ikuemonisan Bababo)

I was worried as to how government and multinational oil companies, exploring and exploiting liquid gold from Ayetoro could possibly desert the community. This is the height of man inhumanity to man.

A Glimpse of the Sea and Its Havoc on Ayetoro (Photo courtesy: Ikuemonisan Bababo)

I had come to Ayetoro armed with many questions. Apt answers have been provided to them at the long interview session with the highly hospitable, jovial and intellectually sound minds. They navigated us through it all: How it all started, the daunting challenges, the stakeholders, their impacts, mindless corruption and official profligacy. (My sincere gratitude to the host Community Team. God bless them immensely)

Skeletal Structure of Ayetoro Town Hall After the Surge of the Atlantic Ocean (Photo courtesy: Ikuemonisan Bababo)

I gathered so much for my Ayetoro research work, but I told myself that I wasn't going to restrict this to Ayetoro alone as each community visited has huge economic potential/prospect.

Having transversed the coastal parts of Ondo State for three days and getting to Ayetoro that day, the glare of desolation, impoverishment, underdevelopment and nonchalance by government made me shed tears. I probed into the latent economic potentials of the South. I looked at communities visited, what potentials stood each distinctively. I mapped out Ayetoro for it long natural umbworld (need to turn the perennial Incursion around), Araromi (for it exquisite Beach) Erunna (for the proposed "Port of Ondo" and Olokola (for the Free Trade Zone).

I returned home in Lagos and I sat down to painstakingly write, edit and re-edit for several months. In months, I had written a stunning piece that constitutes a development framework for the development of Ayetoro Community and the entire Ondo South in Ondo State.

I sent the paper to my publisher in far away Germany. My publisher immediately developed keen interest in it. I waited for months to hear from my publisher.

Finally, I received a message from my publisher only two days ago, notifying me that my text is now online.

_In a world where crude oil is no longer sustainable and states are creatively diversifying their economies. This paper with scholarly articulacy, plausible analysis and racy vitality attempts a modest exposition on how Ondo State Government can tap into the latent economic potentials of Ondo South via ending the perennial Sea Incursion in Ayetoro Community in Ondo State, transform Ayetoro into a Mega Atlantic City; A Business hub and a Residential Estate to enlarge the State's revenue base. The paper also delves into the need to harness the Ecotourism potential of Araromi Beach and translates from paper to reality the "Port of Ondo" Project. The paper concludes that the trio has the key to unlocking Ondo State for patent development and thus, the paper attempts to constitute a development framework for the development of Ayetoro Community and the entire Ondo South in Ondo State, Nigeria._

Ladies and gentlemen, fellow Patriots, I am excited to present to you my third cerebral effort.

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https://www.grin.com/document/1044993

Endeavour to drop your review, share and tag the appropriate individuals and quarters.

Special Thank to God 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

Thanks to the great Team at Grin Publishing, Germany.