Nigeria, Sept. 8 -- This is Ayetoro, the community where I was born. It is an oil-producing, theocratic coastal community in Ilaje, Ondo State. The buildings you are seeing is part of the old palace of the community leader. It was at the centre of town. All the houses, facilities and infrastructure that made it to be at the city centre have all disappeared.

Directly opposite this palace was a street known as Oyetomi Street. My father's house was No. 5 on that street. It was among the three largest private houses in Ayetoro. That house and so many others have been swallowed by the sea. In that house, doctors, a lawyer, engineers, an accountant, an economist, a Parmanent Secretary and other professionals were birthed to my father, and ther...