The Renevlyn Development Initiative (RDI) has urged the Lagos State Government to halt activities threatening the Okun Alfa community in Eti-Osa Local Government Area.
The environmental organisation made the call after a fact-finding visit to the coastal community, where it interacted with residents affected by ocean incursions and coastal erosion.
The call was contained in a statement signed by Mr Philip Jakpor, Executive Director of RDI, and made available to reporters on Saturday in Lagos.
Jakpor said residents were at risk of losing their homes and livelihoods as the Atlantic Ocean continued to swallow large portions of the community.
“What we found is heartbreaking because the community has been there for hundreds of years.
“Now, so-called development projects are threatening to erase them without any suitable alternative,” Jakpor said.
He alleged that residents had become victims of development activities linked to projects in the Eko Atlantic area and the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.
According to him, the projects had affected parts of the community and worsened the challenges faced by residents.
Jakpor urged the state government to halt destructive activities along the shoreline and prioritise measures to protect the community from further ocean incursions.
He specifically called for the construction of wave breakers to reduce the impact of ocean incursions on the community.
He said the only modest intervention by the state government was during the administration of former Gov. Babatunde Fashola, when some wave breakers were constructed.
“According to locals, they only provided temporary relief because the number of breakers is too few to halt the raging Atlantic,” he said.
Jakpor quoted RDI Project Officer, Ms Linda Amadi, as saying that women in the community were experiencing the effects of coastal erosion more severely.
Amadi said many women who depended on fishing and fish trading had lost their livelihoods and, in some cases, their homes.
“Our interaction with the women shows that they sleep with one eye open because they fear the waves will roar,” she said.
“What the government should do is provide temporary shelters for residents in the upland areas to cushion the effect of displacement whenever ocean incursion happens,” she said.
Amadi also called for empowerment training and access to funding or soft loans for women and other vulnerable groups affected by coastal erosion.
She said Okun Alfa residents were predominantly involved in fishing and fish trading, but the community had faced rising ocean levels and coastal erosion for decades.
Jakpor also quoted residents as saying that more than 1,000 metres of land had been lost to ocean incursions, with the situation worsening since 2011.
He said the residents attributed the worsening situation partly to development projects undertaken in Eti-Osa and Ibeju-Lekki Local Government Areas.
They also linked the worsening situation to the more recent Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project, according to the statement.
He, therefore, urged the government to adopt measures to protect the community, preserve residents’ livelihoods and support people displaced by coastal erosion.
