Revisiting Environmental Challenges in Niger Delta: A Survey of Tanure Ojaide's Poetic Historicism

Abstract

Environmental challenges in Niger Delta of Nigeria arising from oil spillage, loss of mangrove forests, depletion of fish population, water hyacinth invasion, natural gas flaring amongst others caused by the activities of oil multinational companies have been at the top burner of academic discourse for more than three decades now. Many literary artists and critics from different dimensions – drama, prose, and poetry have written scholarly works challenging these situations. Notable among them is Tanure Ojaide. He has used both the mediums of prose and poetry to decry the evil of environmental degradation to the people of Niger Delta in particular and the overall long effects on the Nigerian economy in general. The seriousness of this theme has resulted in many critical and appreciative works done on the poetry and prose of Tanure Ojaide and the Niger Delta environmental problems. The present study takes a step further by giving a historica