The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio has approved that Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) urgently intervene in the Ayetoro community in Ilaje Local government area of Ondo state to prevent the community from being washed off by the Atlantic Ocean.
Akpabio who also ordered the immediate probe of the intervention fund in the area, is moved by the motion by Jimoh Ibrahim, the senator representing Ondo South, in which he urged the Senate to ask NDDC to work with relevant Federal ministries to embark on an intervention project that would prevent the seaside community from sea incursion which wreaked havoc in the community annually.
Ayetoro community is responsible for 5.4 percent of the total crude oil production in Ondo State but oil exploration activities in the community have been undermined by the natural disasters that had rendered many residents homeless.
According to the senator, “Ayetoro Community and its environment account for 5.4 percent of the 60,000 barrel per day of Ondo State’s crude oil production output amounting to about 3.7 percent of Nigeria’s total oil production and this ranks Ondo State as the 5th Nigeria’s’ oil-producing states, under the Niger Delta Development Commission ( NDDC) Act.)
He, however, lamented that “devasting sea incursion and ocean surges have been the albatross of the Ayetoro community for over two decades with hundreds of homes and properties being destroyed annually resulting in the displacement of indigenes of the community and consequently, in the disruption of oil exploration in the area.”
Going memory lane, Ibrahim said: “The oil-producing Ayetoro is a phenomenal historical and cultural settlement along the coaster stretch of Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State and is also a major source of revenue for the nation.
“Also Ayetoro Community used to be one of the most prosperous riverine settlements in Nigeria due to its thriving trade in fish.”
Senator Ibrahim, however, is disturbed that “the surges have become an annual occurrence that successive governments have failed to attend to and serving a daily reminder to the indigenes of Ayetoro that the community is gradually slipping into the belly of the Atlantic Ocean.”
He told the Senate that there had been attempted intervention moves in the past, particularly by NDDC to save the erstwhile communist community, but the N6.4 billion contract hit the rock as it didn’t see the light of day.
Ibrahim urged the Senate to mandate an investigation into the failed contract for the construction of a shoreline protective wall designed with Geo-tube technology.
He briefed the Senate on the intervention attempts made by NDDC to save the coastline community, saying “I am aware that a concerned interventionalist agency, the Niger Delta Development Commission ( NDDC) as early as 2004, just four years after its creation, made a commendable attempt to stem the slide by awarding the contract for the construction of a shoreline protective wall designed with Geo-tube technology in Ayetoro to Gallet Nigeria Limited at an original contract sum of N6.4 billion, of which 25 percent was reportedly paid;
“Also, I am aware that the said contract was revoked in 2009 for alleged lack of capacity and re-awarded to Dredging Atlantic Limited at an undisclosed cost, however, eleven years after the new contractor took over, and sixteen years after the contract was first awarded, there is nothing on ground to show any intervention by the government, thereby creating the wrong impression of an unconcerned Federal Government.”
Pleading with the Senate to do something urgent about the plight of the people, Ibrahim said: “The Senate should mandate the commitment on NDDC, Environmental, and Ecology ( when constituted/to interface with relevant ministries to work out modalities for instant intervention in the disasters.
“Also mandate the committed on NDDC (when constituted) to conduct an investigation into the N 6.5 billion – Shoreline protection contract awarded by the NDDC in 2006 with a view to finding an alternative solution where necessary, to stem the dangerous slide and report back within four weeks for further legislative action.”
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