Nigeria coastal erosion swallows Ayetoro fishing community

Ayetoro, a fishing community in southern Nigeria, is losing homes, services and shoreline as the Atlantic Ocean advances into the town.

The community, home to around 10,000 people, was founded in 1947 and is known locally as “The Happy Place.” Residents now rebuild farther inland after homes are destroyed, only for the water to reach them again.

A study by spatial planning specialist Barnabas Ogirima James found that Ayetoro’s coastline receded by an average of 15 metres a year between 1987 and 2022. The item also cited a 2024 Scientific Reports estimate that sea-level rise along west Africa’s Gulf of Guinea is about 3.9 millimetres a year, around 10.5 percent above the global average.

Oluwambe Ojagbohunmi, the traditional king of Ayetoro, said his palace once had 100 rooms and now has only about a dozen. “This is our land. Where can we go? It’s complicated,” he said.

Thompson Akingboye, a fisherman and personal assistant to the king, said he lost his father’s house in 2019 and that some families have moved more than three times.

Oluwasegun Babatunde Esan, a landscape architecture researcher at the University of Lagos, said the clearing of floodplains, swamps and coastal areas for settlement can worsen erosion along Nigeria’s 850-kilometre coastline. He called for stricter regulation and more natural barriers such as mangroves and coconut palms.

The community’s sole health centre has been lost to the waves. Healthcare worker Omomiye Oluwaseun said residents face water-borne diseases because the sea has contaminated the water supply, while teacher Sunday Akinjoye said repeated school relocations are affecting pupils’ concentration.