A renowned scholar of Environmental Literature, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education (IAUE), Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria, Professor Anthony Adele Orlu, has called on Rivers State citizens to collectively fight the unhealthy politics of upland and riverine dichotomy.
Speaking while delivering the 63rd inaugural lecture of IAUE last Thursday at the university auditorium, main campus, titled, “Literature, Environmental, Violation and Leadership Crisis in the Niger Delta”, Professor Orlu stated that the element of disunity has dampened the economic fortunes of the region and further exacerbated the sense of deprivation in the citizens.
While advocating for the provision of a leadership that indulges all ethnic groups in the region, he stated that those from the upland also have water body and are not totaling isolated from rivers.
He also enlightened the audience that those from the riverine do not live inside the river but on land, adding that since there is also land everywhere in the region, the ploy or attempt to divide the people along these lines should be resisted at all cost.
The inaugural Lecturer emphasized that divisions based on ethnic lines of Ijaw, Ikwerre, Etche and so on should be discarded and inclusivity practiced.
The Rumuwoji Oroabali Rebisi-born Professor reiterated that militancy in all forms should be thrown into the garbage heap of history as these militants have become extremely rich and powerful to the detriment of the people.
He further stated that their contributions to economic or physical redemption of the region is not felt in anyway, especially as some of them have become self-acclaimed warlords, maintain their own non-state actors and have continually terrorized the region at will.
Corruption and ethnicity, he explained, are the major cankerworms that have destroyed the sense of unity to n the State.
He encouraged all to “resist the common enemy and to fight for the unity of Rivers State people”.
Professor Orlu proposed a new strand of the ecological theory to be known as ec-hygiene.
This eco-hygiene strand, which, he explained, examines issues concerning personal hygiene and its impact on the environment, has not been mentioned by other theorists.
He stated that issues bothering on public defecation, open urination along street corners and major highways, lack of cleanliness at home, office, car, kitchen, noise pollution in the church, on the street and so on, are the concerns of the eco-hygiene strand of the ecological theory.

He, therefore, advocated the inclusion of the eco-hygiene strand to the whole gamut of ecological literary analyses.

As far as the Professor of Environmental Literature is concerned, eco-hygiene as a strand of the ecological theory “will ensure that the searchlight of analyses will shift slightly away from the activities of Shell Petroleum Development Company and other oil prospecting companies to the examination of the activities of the individual in his personal environment”.

The 63rd Inaugural Lecturer also exposed the importance of environment to the study of literature, especially as the cherished environment of the Niger Delta region is facing extinction with the discovery of the “black gold”, which has led to the destruction of farmlands, caused environmental pollution and the violation of the biosphere through spillages, flooding, gas flaring with its inhuman effects on the entire flora and fauna.

Orlu reaffirmed that the importance of the lecture “is not only about the examination of the degree of environmental deprivation caused by the prospecting of crude petroleum, but also the activities of man and his sense of hygiene with regards to the preservation of the environment”.

He, therefore, hinted that it is on this understanding that the issue of environmental personal hygiene becomes the fulcrum of the lecture for which a new strand of the eco-theory , to be known as eco-hygiene is proposed.

In concluding, Professor Orlu highlighted the importance of the environment to the study of literature, particularly in the Niger Delta region, where the cherished environment is facing extinction due to oil prospecting activities.

Speaking at the event, the Dean, Faculty of Humanities, Professor Kingdom Eke Orji, who represented the Acting Vice Chancellor of IAUE, commended the Inaugural Lecturer and emphasized the need for citizens to stop apportioning blame to oil companies and focus on individual actions that constitute nuisance.

Professor Orji, who declared that “the fault is on ourselves and not in our stars”, urged all to not allow individual differences to prevent achievement of common goal, but to promote peaceful coexistence, unity and inclusivity, and to adopt eco-hygiene practices to mitigate environmental degradation.

The Registrar of IAUE, Dr. Chinonye Abraham Ajie, also commended Professor Orlu for his position on the subject matter and expressed the hope that all would abide by his proposed eco-hygiene.

In a vote of thanks, the former University Librarian, Orator, now the Head, Department of Library and Information Science, Professor Boma Beatrice Obi, lauded the 63rd Inaugural Lecturer for the epoch making lecture and enjoined all to “take responsibility for our collective actions as well as our impact on the environment”.

She appreciated everyone who turned out to support the Inaugural Lecturer and made the event a success.

By: Sogbeba Dokubo