By Kayode Olabanji, Okitipupa

The Ilaje Development Summit Group (IDSG) has called on the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Ondo State Government to urgently intervene in the unrelenting incidents of sea incursion, ravaging coastal communities in Ilaje Local Government of Ondo State.
In a statement issued on Friday, November 20, 2020, signed by the Executive Administrator of the group, Rev. Sola Adebawo, the group decried the neglect of the Ilaje communities in the coastal shoreline of Ondo state by successive administrations and leaving the communities to the mercy of the Atlantic Ocean over the years.
He noted that without urgent intervention, many communities in the area would cease to exist in a few years.
The group called for immediate provision of relief materials and medical support to alleviate the immediate hardship of the people, and called on Ondo State Government to help provide temporary Shelter for the displaced.
As part of the group’s concerted efforts to drive the process and facilitate state actors engagement, Rev. Adebawo, announced the formation of an Intervention Committee, headed by former Chairman of Ondo State Civil Service Commission, Primate Afolabi Aboyewa, to coordinate activities aimed at supporting the displaced people in the affected communities as well as collaborating with government at all levels and all key stakeholders to alleviate the suffering of the people and to deploy a sustainable solution to the intractable problem.
‘It is instructive to note that many communities in Ilaje Local Government, such as Messe, Gbagira, Jinrinwo, Odofado, Abereke and others, have suffered incessant debilitating effects of ocean surge.
The most recent impact is felt at Aiyetoro, the hub of Ilaje creativity and industry, where several homes have been damaged, and several properties worth over a billion Naira destroyed.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State, Mr Goke Jatuwase has sympathised with the victims and people of Ayetoro community toward the recent ocean surge which led to destruction of properties in the area.
Jatuwase said the incident had been an overtime ravaging the lives and properties of the people in the area.
The former LGA Secretary expressed his dissatisfaction on what he”tagged as catastrophic devastatation of Ilaje hereditary Hallmark”
“ Ayetoro Community remains a locust standing of civilization and technological advancement in Ilaje Local Government, and we must not fold our hands in seeing this Community extinguished by Sea incursion”

Jatuwase, therefore, urged the people of the Community to calm down,as he promised to take the matter up, despite the preminary and fast-tracting effort of the state government with a responsible and responsive machineries in making the challenges a flash-back.