Nigeria’s Senate urged the federal government to consider budget provisions and international climate-adaptation financing to protect coastal settlements from ocean surges, Premium Times reported Oct. 22.
The motion centered on Ayetoro in Ondo State. Senator Francis Faduyile, who sponsored it, estimated that ocean encroachment had cost the town roughly 80% of its homes and infrastructure, Premium Times reported.
ThePolity reported that Faduyile told NTA International in an Oct. 9 interview: “We cannot continue to look on while the ocean washes away our land.”
Premium Times said the motion called for state officials and Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to organize relief, including potable water, medical care and temporary shelter for those affected. Senate committees were asked to monitor the proposed response.
After an Aug. 13, 2024, visit, NEMA’s Ekiti Operations Office and the Ondo State Emergency Management Agency assessed damage in Ilaje Local Government Area. The assessment counted 1,820 buildings under water and 2,470 households forced to leave; 14,820 people were affected across Aiyetoro, Abereke and other communities in Mahin Kingdom, NEMA said. Those figures cover the assessed communities, not Ayetoro alone.
NEMA said repeated surges have taken more than 15 kilometers from the communities’ coastline. Schools, the local independent power system, boats and canoes were also damaged. The agency identified fishing, farming and artisanal work as important to the local economy, with damage to boats and canoes affecting those livelihoods.
Premium Times also described an earlier coastal-defense effort: the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) awarded a shoreline-protection contract in 2004, later terminated it and assigned the work again in 2009. The outlet reported that the project remained incomplete.
Premium Times named no donor, financing facility or amount for the Senate proposal and did not report an approved project. The Senate committees have four weeks to report back on the proposed measures, according to the outlet.
