…As Govt Intensifies Shoreline Protection…..
Ayetoro, a once-thriving coastal community battered for decades by the Atlantic is gradually returning to limelight and getting the desired technical attention. Weeks after an OSOPADEC-led team completed a technical tour in Ghana, Marine Engineers from Dredge Masters Limited (DML), West Africa’s leading dredging and coastal protection firm, arrived in Ayetoro for an on-site assessment.
The visit marks a major move in Governor Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa’s determination to rescue Ayetoro and other Ilaje and Ese-Odo coastal communities from ravaging sea incursion.
The visiting team, led by Dredge Masters Limited Managing Director, Captain A. A. Kan, was received by senior OSOPADEC officials, including the Executive Director of Projects, Dr. Olujimi Kufo, and the Executive Director of Finance, Mallam Mallon Ogbaro.
The delegation swiftly embarked on an extensive on-site assessment of the areas most devastated by coastal erosion. The inspection tour covered the Ayetoro shoreline, the Ugbonla–Erunna corridor, the Idi-Ogba–Awoye route, and the Abereke–Ori-Oke axis, as well as Apata and Ajapa communities, before stretching further to the expansive Araromi Beach coastline.
Moved by the scale of devastation, Captain Kan assured residents that, with genuine commitment from the government and all stakeholders, Ayetoro and other communities can indeed rise again.
The visit follows OSOPADEC Chairman Prince Olabiyi Olaleye Poroye’s earlier inspection of DML’s completed reclamation and sea defence projects in Ghana, undertaken on Governor Aiyedatiwa’s directive to verify competence before any contractor is engaged.
After years of failed interventions, abandoned contracts, and broken trust, the current administration has now resolved that only contractors with proven track records will work on Ayetoro and other identified communities without shortcuts and politics.
With the field inspection concluded, the DML team will now move to technical evaluation and data processing, paving the way for full-scale reclamation and shoreline protection.
In Ayetoro, the mood is shifting from despair to belief, from erosion to restoration. For a community long battered by the ocean, this latest visit signals that the tide may finally be turning.
Though Ayetoro and other communities within the OSOPADEC mandate areas have lost much over the years, the alignment of competence, commitment, and political will has finally set them on a sure path to full restoration.