STAR FEAT Lekki coast: Fear communities, env “Members of the community led by the Baale (traditional ruler) and other leaders of the community staged a peaceful rally to draw government’s attention to their plight.
The serenity and allure of the beautiful beaches surrounding the Lekki coast near the Atlantic Ocean in Lagos, is virtually giving way to fear and apprehension ,all thanks to the frequent ocean surge, reports.
Daily Trust
The old, the young, men, women and infants filed out en-masse recently at Barb Wire, one of the numerous communities on the Lekki coast, to voice out their anxiety, fear, apprehension and worry over the rising sea waves and the danger it poses to their community. For years, their existence has been threatened as well as their means of survival. They seem to have been left in the lurch ,and in apparent perpetual apprehension over the threat posed by the ocean surge.
At the moment, three lives have been lost in the community and over 100 costly coconut trees adorning the beach area were all gone, according to findings by Daily Trust. This is the precarious situation the residents have found themselves as they live in perpetual fear of erosion.
The Barb Wire Community is not the only place affected along the Lekki coast. Several other coastline settlements in Lekki have been touched and threatened by the rising sea levels in recent past. For instance, the Barb Wire community is just next to the popular Alpha Beach before Lafiagi village which had been torched in the past before the intervention of the Lagos State Government, which erected granite sea groins from the Victoria Island to Alpha Beach. This intervention was said to have provided succour for the distressed communities.
But this ‘temporary’ intervention did not cover Barb Wire community on the same Lekki Coast, as the community is now crying out for help and intervention by the government, especially the Federal Government. This is why members of the community led by the Baale (traditional ruler) and other leaders of the community staged a peaceful rally to draw government’s attention to their plight.
The rally spearheaded by a Nongovernmental organization, Lekki Urban Forest and Animal Sanctuary Initiative (LUFASI) was tagged, “Save the Lekki Coast, Protect the shoreline” with children, minors, men and women of the community pleading with federal and state authorities to save their community from extinction.
Our correspondent reports that the beach area in Barb Wire is almost washed away by erosion, and the remaining coconut trees are on the verge of collapse. This prompted the community to cry out to the government.
The Baale of the community, Mr. Sikiru Ayinde said the community has been experiencing the problem for the past years which is threatening their existence. “For the past two years, we have been living in fear of this erosion. The inhabitants of this community were originally relocated from Kuramo Beach, and since we moved here the ocean has been disturbing us. Last year when there was ocean surge, we lost three people. All the coconut trees are almost gone.”
Another community leader, Apese Babatunde said when the community relocated three years ago to Barb Wire, many houses were standing but they are all gone thanks to the erosion.
“We want the government to come to our aid. Our life is not at rest,” he said, “Government should do something urgently. All our houses are gone and over 100 coconut trees washed away.”
As a temporary measure, many