Akeredolu emotional over Ayetoro Sea Incursion, historical community ‘ll not go Into extinction, says Ondo Commissioner

 DAMISI OJO, Akure

Ondo State Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Emmanuel Igbasan, has said that Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu was worried about the pathetic situation of the inhabitants of Ayetoro Riverine Community in Ilaje Local Government presently being ravaged by Sea incursion.

According to Igbasan, the Governor had set up a committee to look into how to tackle the menace before he went on medical vacation.

Besides, the commissioner said the present administration in the state has reduced the debt of N220billion it inherited to N92billion, stressing that the state was not owing up to N10billion as conceptual debt.

Igbasan who spoke in Akure at an interaction session with newspapers’ correspondents in the state on Thursday, lamented that the situation in Ayetoro Sea Side has been tormenting the state government.

He recalled that the historical heritage of the ancient town and their enterprises as a communism environment should not go into extinction.

According to him, “Ayetoro is a problematic and pathetic one for us as a state. If you look at the historical heritage of that place and their enterprises, it is not a place that should go into extinction.

“There are so many theories because for me, before I proffer solution, I want to dig deep into the root of the problem so that I won’t be dealing with the symptoms. I told Mr. Governor that before we can give solutions to the problem in Ayetoro, we need to know the cause”.

The commissioner said the proximity of Ondo State to Lagos and the volume of sand that was pulled from the sea to create a city where they drove the sea several miles away, must have caused problem for Ondo State.

Similarly, he observed that the rise in climate change and the erosion level could also cause Ayetoro problem too.

Igbasan said the state government had awarded numerous projects to salvage the issues in Ayetoro that, one of them brought in sand to fill the place but within few days they ran out of sand.

On the state debt, the commissioner said the recently rolled out 30-year development plan was for the state to meet all its needs by 2054 for the benefit of the citizenry.

For a better society