The sea is no longer at the doorstep of the Okun-Alfa community in Eti Osa L.G.A of Lagos State. It is already inside the community. Along Alfa Beach Coastline, residents say the Atlantic has been steadily taking what generations built. Their homes, shops, roads, livelihoods, and, in most cases, the pieces of land they can call their own.
For people living here, coastal erosion is not a climate-change phrase discussed at conferences. It is the sound of waves approaching their houses and the sight of a neighbour’s property disappearing. It is the anxiety of going to sleep, wondering how far the water may have moved inland by morning. And increasingly, residents say it is a feeling of abandonment.
Among those drawing attention to this crisis is Sherif Adekunle, an environmental activist and indigene of the community, who narrated the residents’ ordeal to a group of journalists when they visited Okun-Alfa community today, Wednesday, 19th August, 2026 . Adekunle’s account does not describe a distant environmental disaster. He is talking about the community in which he was born and raised.
Speaking to journalists, he described how the ocean washed off their houses, mosque, and means of livelihood. According to him, residents have watched helplessly as the sea progressively eats into their lands, destroying properties and threatening the survival of the community.
“We used to have a health centre and school, but now, everything has been washed away by the sea, and no compensation yet from the government.”
He appeals to the Lagos State Government to intervene before the community loses more land and lives.
For Adekunle and other residents, the most painful part is not only the destruction itself.
It is what happens after the destruction.
A family loses a building.
A trader loses a shop.
A fisherman loses access to a familiar shoreline.
Roads gradually disappear.
And residents are left wondering what comes next.
‘We are being left to our fate’
This has been a long-running environmental emergency.”What happens when there is nowhere left to run?” He asked.
For years, relocation has offered a temporary escape for some residents. But relocation requires somewhere to go. And for indigenous families whose ancestral land is disappearing beneath the Atlantic, leaving is not always a simple solution.
By Dickson Chinma Ihejirika (Mrs),
Founding Editor, Trending Gists, and Communication Network
www.trendgistnetwork.com
Made possible by Renevlyn Development Initiative & Nigerian Institute of Journalism
