Waves crash against what remains of Apakin, a centuries-old Lagos community where homes and ancestral graves have already been swallowed by the sea. Image credit: TimesLive
In June, the coastal village of Apakin in Lagos was struck by a powerful ocean surge that swept away fishing boats, nets, and ancestral graves. The settlement, home to around 3,000 people, is one of the city’s last remaining indigenous coastal communities, but it is rapidly losing ground to rising seas.
Despite assurances of support from Commonwealth leaders, residents say they feel abandoned as ocean surges grow stronger and more destructive. Community chief Abimbola Iyowun fears their heritage may soon disappear altogether. “Only two graves are left from my father’s lineage,” he explained, pointing toward the waves where both his home and his father’s once stood. “We’ve been trying to relocate them, but we have not found a place.”
The erosion is not new. A 2022 study published in the Journal of African Earth Sciences reported that about 80 percent of Lagos’ shoreline has vanished in the past 50 years. The researchers identified deepwater ports along the Bight of Benin as the primary drivers of coastal loss.
Although more than a dozen Lagos communities face similar threats, Apakin’s residents believe they are among the worst affected. Once known for coconut farming, the land has been stripped bare. The last 50 metres of coconut trees disappeared four years ago, and the palace Iyowun used when he became village head just three years ago has also been lost to the sea.
Lagos State authorities admit that rising sea levels represent the city’s greatest long-term climate threat. Yet environmentalist Philip Jakpor contends that government-backed megaprojects, such as the Dangote oil refinery and expanding deep-sea ports, are compounding the crisis. “Extensive dredging is displacing water and pushing it toward vulnerable communities, literally swallowing them,” Jakpor said.
Nigerian climate activist Akinbode Oluwafemi has also raised concerns about the limited international response. He criticized the Commonwealth’s “Living Lands Charter,” adopted during the 2022 summit in Kigali, Rwanda, as weak and unenforceable. “The Kigali Declaration acknowledges the human activities worsening climate change,” he said. “But it failed to introduce any binding resolutions or mechanisms to hold corporations accountable for their role in the crisis.”
For Apakin’s residents, each surge feels like a reminder that their centuries-old community may soon be erased, leaving behind little more than memories and graves claimed by the sea.
About the Author
