A community leader told SaharaReporters that the NDDC is also responsible for the flooding because of the useless contracts they awarded to Gallet Nigeria and Dredging Atlantic. He also accused the NDDC of “stealing money and sharing it among themselves [with Gallet Nigeria and Dredging Atlantic].”
Floods are devastating a coastal community in Ondo State more than ten years after the commissioning of a multibillion naira project meant to protect its shoreline from the encroaching ocean.
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Water in Ayetoro, a community in Ilaje Local Government Area (LGA), and on the Ondo State coast, has already reached several feet high. Residents are using boats and improvised rafts to maneuver over what was, until recently, dry land.
Several have had to leave their homes and the lower floors of buildings have been abandoned to the rising tide.
The flood comes despite a contract originally made in 2004 by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to build structures to protect the community from the ocean. The first contract was awarded to Gallet Nigeria Limited for N2.4 billion, with an initial mobilization payment of N650 million. No work was ever completed by Gallet Nigeria, according to numerous sources.
In 2009, the NDDC then re-awarded the contract to a second company, Dredging Atlantic Nigeria Limited, for N6.5 billion, of which N2.5 billion was reportedly paid for the mobilization fee.
But about six years later, hardly any work has been done on the project, according to residents and people familiar with the project.
SaharaReporters spoke to the Public Relations Officer for Dredging Atlantic, Mr. Oluchola, who told our correspondent that Dredging Atlantic has completed 60% of the project. When asked about the numerous allegations that Dredging Atlantic has not made progress he said “I am absolutely confident we have completed at least 60% of the contract.”
Mr. Oluchola said that the issue was that many people in the Ilaje community were “illiterate and simply did not understand” all of Dredging Atlantic’s accomplishments for them. He also blamed the lack of adequate sands for delays in completing their contract.
However, a source at the NDDC confirmed the community's accusations to a SaharaReporters correspondent saying, “not much has been done at all” on the contract awarded to Dredging Atlantic. He added, “I want to see the contract completed,” and was unhappy with the “non-performance.”
A youth leader, speaking to SaharaReporters on the condition of anonymity, said that over the “past ten years our community has fallen into the sea.” He also said that Dredging Atlantic has had almost zero presence in the Ilaje area and that Jide Taiwo, the president of the company, has never even visited the area.
Another community leader told SaharaReporters that the NDDC is also responsible for the flooding because of the useless contracts they awarded to Gallet Nigeria and Dredging Atlantic. He also accused the NDDC of “stealing money and sharing it among themselves [with Gallet Nigeria and Dredging Atlantic].”
This same resident said that the local government in Ilaje “has not done enough” and he also alleges that they shared in some of the stolen wealth in order to keep silent.
Residents and informants speaking to SaharaReporters through social media and phone have said that without intervention by the government, NDDC, and others their homes and livelihoods will be completely destroyed.