Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Valentine Benjamin in Ayetoro, Nigeria

‘The sea took everything away’: how Nigeria’s ‘Happy City’ is disappearing beneath the waves

A woman walks past the empty frames of stilt houses on a beach.
Stilt houses damaged by coastal erosion – just some of the homes, businesses and churches lost to the sea in Ayetoro, south-west Nigeria, April 2024. Photograph: Dan Ikpoyi/AP

In the early hours of 15 February 2019, the Atlantic Ocean came for Arowo Victoria’s livelihood. The 60-year-old retired midwife was asleep when neighbours began banging on her door, shouting that the sea had started covering buildings along the nearby coastline.

By the time she got to her small shop, she discovered that the Atlantic had already swept it away, destroying the business she had built with borrowed money after retirement.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.