LAMENTATION FOR MY LAND.
Oloibiri
From my recently published poetry collection LAMENTATION FOR MY LAND on Amazon kindle is the title of a poem: Oloibiri.
Oloibiri is a small community in Ogbia local Government area in Niger Delta, Bayelsa state. It was the first place oil was discovered in Nigeria. It came in large commercial quantity in the year 1956.
With the coming of oil came money, investors and a lot of development to Nigeria but unfortunately, the site where oil was found is in dire need of development. The small town known for fishing and peasant farming is in a state of environmental disrepute.
(Photo credit: Researchgate)
You would have expected that such a community where oil was first discovered should be bubbling with oil wealth. But sadly, the reverse is the case here.
The inspiration to compose the poem came in 2006, a little after the end of my 100 level. During the holidays, I read an old newspaper clipping and the columnist was lamenting the level of environmental decay, the nonchalant attitude of the government and the oil company operating in that area. I composed the poem with the same tone and mood adopted by the concerned columnist. That was fourteen years ago but the situation of Oloibiri has not in any way ameliorated despite billions of naira earmarked for Niger Delta Development Commission (N.D.D.C).
(Photo credit:Radical ecological democracy)
Recently in the news, there was a panel set up to investigate the spurious and lackadaisical manner in which monies budgeted for the development of the oil rich region was spent. The chairman who was supposed to answer to the charges levelled against him fell in a 'pretended faint' like others who become sickly when it is time to answer questions about misappropriation of funds. Such is the case with questionable characters in Nigeria politics.
Helon Habila's book Oil on Water is one of the true to life fiction depicting the state of the Niger Delta which was and is still crawling with militants. The movie Blood and Oil is also another work pointing the entire world to see the condition of the oil rich region.
My reader may be surprised why I am so concerned about Oloibiri. You may ask if I am from that part of the country? The answer is no but as a concerned individual and more so, a writer, our dream is to see that evil is overthrown and good assume the helms of affair. While this may seem like an impossible task, we keep pushing and writing with the pen until justice prevails. Even if is going to take centuries for that to happen. Atleast, posterity will read of the activities of writers and concerned individuals about the change the environment needs.
( Photo credit: Newsroom 247
I will end this post with the part two of the poem bearing the same title. While the first poem explored the discovery of oil, the commercial riches it brought to Nigeria and the pitiable condition of Oloibiri. Several years afterwards, Oloibiri is yet to experience the dividend of being the oil producer. That is the angst expressed in the part two of the poem. The silencing of the environmental critic like Ken Saro Wiwa and the other Ogoni elders that were murdered by the military junta of that period. It also explored the rise of militants profiting from kidnappings of white oil workers in exchange for huge ransome. This, they did as a way of sending a message to several successive governments who turned deaf ears to the plight of that region.
What then is the hope for Oloibiri? Who will rise to salvage whatever else is redeemable? That is a question for everyone of us in Nigeria. By the way, my book is available for purchase on Amazon kindle. You can do well to check it out and grab a copy. Till we meet again.
I am yours truly,
Julius Topohozin.
