Oil exploitation and socio-ecological collapse in Helon Habila’s oil on water

Abstract

This paper explores Helon Habila’s Oil on Water as a literary critique of global resource exploitation and its socio-environmental consequences. Through the symbolic duality of the association of water and oil, as both a source of wealth and poison for communities, the novel foregrounds the paradox of natural abundance coexisting with ecological and humanity ruin. The Nigerian author plots the narrative around the investigative journey of two journalists, seeking to find out truth about the role and responsibilities of the government, the local elites, the multinationals and the activists entangled in the oil exploitation in the Niger Delta. It functions as a literary parallel to the empirical efforts to expose environmental disasters and humanitarian catastrophe, reinforcing the novel’s activist orientation. Grounding on the theoretical framework of postcolonial ecocriticism, this study situates Habila’s novel within broader discourses of neo-colonial exploitation and its dramatic outcomes in African countries. Thus, it relates to ecological and, community collapse, and corporate accountability. By portraying the Niger Delta as a microcosm of global resource dependency, Habila’s work also mediates ethical regulation and transnational solidarity in confronting the environmental and human costs of African resources exploitations.