The effects of global warming are being experienced in coastal communities in Lagos. In this report, GBENRO ADEOYE takes a look at how some of these communities cope with the challenge of having the remains of their loved ones swept away as the ravaging sea continually destroys their graveyards
It was a bright sunny day with the palms gently swaying in the breeze. The sea waves were not as mild though as they beat against the shore with vicious intensity.
A large part of Okun Ajah, a coastal community in Lagos, has been submerged by the ravaging sea over the years. The threat of a total submersion of the community looms for its residents and the fear extends beyond its borders to adjoining coastal communities facing similar
challenges. These communities are Mopo Eti-osa, Mopo Ijebu and Alpha Beach. In these communities, there is a new challenge for residents.
A struggle to keep the dead at peace
Residents have recently been in a constant struggle to keep their dead forebears away from the raging sea that is determinedly set in its way. When the heavy rains cause the sea to flood the communities, it does not just destroy property, it also raids their graveyards and takes away the remains of fallen members of the communities, assaulting their peaceful rest.
It has been an embarrassing period for these communities with some of the residents having to rebury their loved ones.
For instance, Soji Mufutau, who was born in Okun Ajah, had to rebury his grandfather after his grave was damaged by heavy flooding two years ago, exposing what was left of his corpse. Raised with a strong cultural background, Mufutau believes in the sanctity of the resting place of a loved one.
And that even when such a place is disturbed, it is the duty of relatives left behind to ensure that the sanctity is maintained. So when his grandfather’s grave was evacuated by flooding, Mufutau ensured that he reburied what was left of his remains by the ravaging flood.
Mufutau also believes the situation spells a bad omen for the community.Graveyards at Mopo-Ijebu
True to his belief, Mufutau performed etutu (some rites) along with his grandfather’s second burial ceremony to avert his spirit’s anger on his family and the community.
“Someone called to inform me on that day that my grandfather’s grave had been dug open by the flood. It was an embarrassing moment for me,” Mufutau recalled his experience.
“The rain had gone on for hours and everywhere was flooded. The sea level had risen high and water had overrun the whole community. I got there and I saw the remains of our (residents’) dead relatives floating all over the place. I was glad that I could still recover some body parts from my grandfather’s grave, so I reburied the pieces. Naturally, the spirit of these dead people would be angry since they had been woken up from their rest, so it was necessary to perform some rites before the second burial.”
Gloomy observations
Experts have predicted that a significant portion of Lagos may be submerged should there be a rise of 1m in sea levels, which some say could happen in the near future.
A 2002 study by Roland P. Paskoff of Lumière University, Lyon, France on the effects of sea-level rise on coastal cities and residential areas, identified 15 cities in the world, including Lagos, as highly vulnerable to sea level rise and extreme flooding.
Other cities include Tokyo, Japan; Shanghai, China; Bombay, India; and Jakarta, Indonesia.
Paskoff’s report says the impacts of a more rapid pace of global sea-level rise which may affect such identified developed low-lying coastal areas include “submergence, intensified flooding, increased erosion of shorelines, drainage problems and greater intrusion of saline waters into estuaries and aquifers.”
Meanwhile, the 4th Lagos State Summit on Climate Change, which was themed, ‘Vulnerability and Adaptability to Climate Change in Nigeria- Lagos State Agriculture, Industry and Health Sectors in Focus,’ presented a few observations that suggest that sea level rise in Lagos State coastal areas could be between 0.32m and 1.41m by 2100.
Some of the conclusions at the summit identified Nigeria as one of the countries with high vulnerability with coastal storm surges and projected Lagos to be one of the cities to be the hardest hit by storm surge.
It was agreed at the summit that Badagry, Epe, Eti-Osa, Amuwo-Odofin, Ojo, Kosofe, Lagos Island, Apapa, ibeju-Lekki and Ikorodu, are the local governments that are most highly at risk of submergence.
The summit also agreed that marine and mangrove ecosystems of Lagos are under threat from climate change and called for the need to understand the changes taking place in the interest of food security for the people. Many fishermen could also stand the risk of losing their jobs should the marine and mangrove ecosystems of Lagos suffer.
‘Abomination’
For the second burial of Mufutau’s grandfather, he had to carefully choose the location; it was farther inward from the coastline to prevent another invasion by the sea. But unfortunately since then, the sea has made fresh incursions into the community and Mufutau has been left pondering on where his grandfather’s new resting place should be. So far, the answer has eluded him.
“I’m still grateful that I could get something from my grandfather’s remains; there are many people who have lost the remains of their loved ones forever. Some have had to only use the sand from the submerged grave as a reminder of their loved ones. So the sand is all they have to rebury when flood sweeps away the old grave,” Mufutau added.
In Mopo Ijebu, there have also been days when residents have had to shamefully watch the sea toss the remains of their loved ones around. Residents say the flooding became worse around 2006, which some of them blamed on an ongoing dredging exercise by the Lagos State Government to reclaim land in some coastal parts of the state.
On one of such embarrassing days, residents recalled as one of the prominent sons of the community, Jubril Kareem Alowonle, salvaged the remains of his floating mother, who had been buried 14 years earlier, from the grip of a massive flood.
Many described his efforts as brave and resolute.
Alowonle has since reburied his mother at a newly constructed grave by his house, which he considered to be far enough from the sea.
“Before we (children) reburied her, we performed some rites using kolanuts and some other things. We also killed a fowl at the new grave site before the burial. The rites were necessary to avert calamities from us. It’s an abomination for someone who has been buried to be taken out against his/her wish like that,” he explained.
Luckily for Alowonle though, he had recovered the remains of his mother intact “just as she had been buried.”
In all the four coastal Lagos communities visited by our correspondent, residents recounted how big their communities were and how they used to play and do other activities in places now overrun by the foaming sea.
Recent damage caused to the communities by the sea was evident in the tens of deserted structures close to the sea. Some have collapsed while some are barely standing as they show evidence of imminent collapse because of the constant beating they get from the sea.
Painko Adam, who is one of the few persons left in the rows of abandoned dilapidated houses lining the coast at Mopo Ijebu, downplayed his perceived bravery, saying he had stayed behind because he had nowhere else to go.
“Everyone in this building has left including the landlord, so I’m living here free of charge. No one is interested in the house again; the last storm shook the building and took down a chunk of it. Water was everywhere, rushing and very high,” he said.
“Even though I can swim, I saw death face to face. All the other tenants left after that experience and vowed never to come back. That was two years ago. I sleep in the corridor every night, that way, I can easily find an escape route and leave at a moment’s notice anytime there is a storm.”
Adam said he had seen dead bodies being washed off the sea to the shore several times.
Ibrahim Mustapha was born about 40 years ago to a notable family in Okun Ajah. From the shore, Mustapha stretched out his hands to show our correspondent the row of palm trees lining the coast.
“We’re one of the families that own these palm trees. They used to be more than this but most of them are now gone, uprooted by the sea,” Mustapha said, explaining that corpses were not the only victims of the problem.
“But it’s unfortunate that people who have been buried and should be resting are still being disturbed. The sea dealt with some of them in their lifetimes and is still dealing with them while they are dead.”
Residents have been appealing to the government to come to their aid but have not stopped at that, particularly in the absence of any expected commitment from the government.
Some residents who had gone onshore in an attempt to speak to the foreign dredgers were reportedly confronted by their security operatives, who were armed with guns.
So annually, in March, before the start of the rainy season, the community gathers to appease the god of the sea at a small shrine on the beach. Made of concrete and fronds, the shrine is also a place for community members to connect with their ancestors and seek their intercession.
This year, the community with the support of the local council, contributed about N250,000 for the rites, which usually involves sacrificing a healthy white cow and a sheep to ward off evil threatening to completely submerge the community. So far, the community’s prayers have not been answered as flooding has not stopped. Indeed, the community shrine has had to be moved a few times as the sea eats deeper into the community.
Close to the shrine and less than 25 metres from the sea is what used to be the community’s well. An inscription on the side of the concrete well says it was dug on ‘17/1/1979.’ However, the present location of the well relative to the sea suggests how far the sea has eaten into the community.
Although, the well no longer produces water having been blocked by rubbish, seashells and sand washed there by the sea. Some adult members of the community recalled with nostalgia how they drank from the well water as youths.
“I drank from the water of this well; then, the well was so full that we only needed a bowl to fetch water from it. No ropes were required as our hands could reach the water. Besides, it was in the village square but no one would ever think that this area used to be the centre of the community,” said another resident, Fatai Mustapha.
“Today, this is the beach area and the sea is gradually coming to submerge this place as well.”
The traditional ruler of Mopo Ijebu, Lamoriu Isiaka, is the fifth Baale of the community. The community has existed for 103 years, so Isiaka as its fifth ruler, expressed displeasure that the flooding has been occurring in the community in his tenure.
Blaming the state government’s dredging activities on the sea for the flooding, Isiaka said that land stretching about one mile had already been submerged, pushing back the community.
Isiaka also said that Mopo Ijebu didn’t have problem of flooding till about five years ago.
“Since the time of our ancestors, we didn’t have flooding like we have every year now. Every year, the sea comes and destroys our community. I can tell you that the sea used to be very far from here, up to about one mile. But now, the beach is just a few metres from my house,” he said.
“We have appeased Olokun (the god of the sea) several times and it didn’t stop, so we know that it has been caused by the state government’s land reclamation project, which started about the same time we started experiencing flooding in this community.”
Isiaka, however, appealed to the state government to come to the aid of the community by reclaiming the community land already taken by the sea.
“Government should also give us embankments that are strong enough to protect us and our children from the sea,” he added.
Threat to lives and properties
An environmental chemist with the Department of Chemistry, University of Ibadan, Dr. Bola Adeyi, confirmed that Lagos islands were “at risk of being claimed by the ocean” as a result of rise in sea levels.
She said, “Rise in sea levels is linked to global warming. The burning of fossil fuels and other human and natural activities release enormous amounts of heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere. And the emissions have caused the earth’s surface temperature to rise. The oceans absorb about 80 per cent of this additional heat.
Speaking about the consequences of global warming, she said it could lead to “increased storm damage to coastal infrastructure, more rapid coastal erosion and shoreline change including the possibility for total loss of protective natural barriers.”
She said, “In addition, hundreds of millions of people live in areas that will become increasingly vulnerable to flooding. Higher sea levels would force them to abandon their homes and relocate. Low-lying islands could be submerged completely.
“Some beaches could disappear altogether. Rising sea level is a threat to people who live near the ocean. Some low-lying areas will have more frequent flooding, and very low-lying land could be submerged completely, which is what is happening in those places.
“Rising sea level can also harm important coastal ecosystems like mangrove forests and coral reefs. Apart from heat waves, droughts, and coastline damage, warmer temperatures could also affect people’s jobs, recreational activities, and hobbies.
“Climate change can increase or decrease rainfall, influence agricultural crop yields, affect human health, cause changes to forests and other ecosystems, or even impact our energy supply. It poses risks for cities near the ocean. These places could flood more often or more severely if sea level continues to rise and many people will lose their homes and businesses.”
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