Oil was first discovered in commercial quantities in Oloibiri, in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria (then Rivers State, currently in Bayelsa State) and was exported in 1958. It was followed by Ogoni (Rivers State) in 1958 and this markedly propelled Nigeria’s membership in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 1971. However, the devastating impact of petroleum extraction for over six decades in the region poses ecological problems due to unregulated gas flaring and oil spillages. Thus, it has plagued people’s traditional ways of survival, especially farming and fishing, without adequate reparation and remediation. This incites the “Niger Delta struggle” for survival. The effects of the struggle include pipeline vandalism, abductions, oil theft, internecine crisis and sheer militancy in some quarters. These reprisals for the years of injustice meted out to the region and its people, affect not only the Niger Delta, but the nation’s economy. Hence, the thrust of this paper is historicity located in ecocriticism; exploring The Riddle of the Oil Thief by HRM King Bubaraye Dakolo to unveil the thorny issues of petroleum extractions vis-à-vis underdevelopment, ecological despoliation and poverty in the region. The study advocates deliberate actions of remediation, infrastructural development by government and the urgent need to uphold communal interest against self-interest, all in a bid to boost the nation’s wealth, quell the scourge of poverty and agitations in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.
