The world can broadly be divided in two parts. One belongs to the high and mighty who rule, while the other belongs to the ruled – the downtrodden and the lesser mortals. A serious blood-spilling conflict is going on across the Niger Delta since the early 1990s. The ethnic tribes are accusing the foreign oil companies of plundering the wealth of the region. The economic exploitation has gone to such extent that hundreds and thousands of the ethnic community have been forced to abandon their ancestral homes to facilitate this pillaging of wealth. The region is rich in petroleum. To make further room for oil exploration and exportation, villages are being razed and people are being compelled to give up their traditional vocation of farming.

Unfortunately, the region and the local ethnic community are being thoroughly deprived of the economic benefit resulting from the commercial activity. Agricultural production for both cash and food crops is steadily dwindling. Studies on Economy reveal people across the region are steadily becoming poorer. As such, the wealth that is accumulating from the region is going to foreign lands to provide people with a life of greater luxury and pomp. On the other hand, the local population of the region is facing hordes of environmental problems resulting from deforestation, gas flaring, oil spillage, oil toxicity and contaminated marine life. Epidemics are common, claiming thousands of life every year.

In this severe backdrop, where humanity is being abused to an unparallel extent, as one of the most famous Nigerian poets of our times, Dr. Tanure Ojaide is contributing with his best to resolve the crisis. His powerful writings are certainly helpful to raise global consciousness against this brutal plundering of both natural and economical wealth.

Dr. Ojaide is one of the most prominent Urhobo literary geniuses of the century. His creative talents blended with powerful writing skill have helped him gain recognition and respect from all corners of the globe. However, his most relevant identity lies in his spontaneous poetries and articles that provide immense courage and confidence to the masses fighting for humanity.

Dr. Tanure Ojaide has delivered some of the most sensational as well as appealing books on Niger delta conflict, which have helped to bring out and place the problem before the global community. In short, he – apart from being a talented writer, gifted poet and an eminent educationist with global recognition – is a sensitive individual and a keen sociopolitical observer, who loves his country and her people next to nothing else.