Ecosterility Poetics & Reportage in Nnimmo’s "We Thought It Was Oil But It Was Blood"

Abstract

Sharp practises and corrupt disobedience to extant laws governing oil exploration have negatively impacted the Niger Delta ecosystem. This study, through the application of ecocriticism, highlights Nnimmo Bassey’s artistic engagement through a form of reactive and proactive creative reportage, which this study addresses as critical environmental pedagogy after the Freirean concept of education for critical consciousness. This study accounts for the corrupt exploitation of the Niger Delta’s environmental degradation through poetic engagement. It observes that we thought it was oil, but it was blood. It is a poetic reportage through which poetic appropriation of collective memory proposes to bring to consciousness the plight of the Niger Delta. This paper submits that through this poetic reportage, the poet persona speaks truth to power and poetically incites the people to seek political and economic change. It also makes a case for better ways to advance reporting in order to achieve full conscientization and sensitization.