An Eco-heritage or an Eco-curse? - A Postcolonial Ecocritical Study of Helon Habila’s Oil on Water

Nigerian literature has been strewed with much political activism and ecological degradation. It has brought to the fore the connivance of oil companies, government agencies and a few members of the local communities in devouring the sacred land of Nigeria. The fictional literature of the Niger Delta takes into account the socio-cultural and political factors that revolve around the management of environmental problems in Nigeria. Rapid industrialization and excessive oil mining leave devastating ecological imprints on the flora, fauna and the landscape of the Delta. The fundamental issues of capitalism, globalisation, and exploitation of natural resources that cause the obliteration of Nigeria’s ecosystem are the themes of numerous literatures seeping out of the Niger Delta. Helon Habila’s Oil on Water works in the creative space to divert attention towards real-life issues that threaten the ecological sustenance of Niger Delta. The present paper analyses the novel by raising questions about the unethical practices being executed in the name of development. While being socio-ecologically intertwined, the novel also provides a postcolonial discourse on the corruption of moral order that plagues the fabric of Nigerian society.