What is left of Nigeria's Niger Delta today is its residual ecological image. Bearing in mind the total significance of what the habitat once represented for the inhabitants of this capriciously vanishing wetland, the need to salvage what is left is absolutely imperative. The aftermath of the mindless and soulless exploration and exploitation of crude oil in the area has led to the destruction of the major part of ecolife in the Niger Delta. Life has become precarious for the human inhabitants and other living beings that make up the ecosystem of this wetland as a result of the nightmarish consequences of oil exploitation, captured in the apocalyptic images of river oil slicks and hellish flares against the night sky. As a consequence, numerous creek communities, both human and animal, which form part of an interconnected natural web, have evacuated and continue to evacuate this area. Therefore, one often observes flocks of migratory birds circling the skies, struggling to locate their former habitat, then in frustration changing direction to alternative feeding sites. Animals are either burnt to death by uncontrolled gas flares or die of starvation. The most stunning of the ecological disasters in the area are the dead rivers, a product of constant blow-outs and oil spillages. It is important to note that the activities of multinational oil firms in the Niger Delta have completely destroyed local biodiversity and devastated local economies. Migratory birds are now seldom seen in this area. Many freshwater plant species have become extinct, and fishing – once a primary source of income for local people – has come to a tragic end. With the transformations to the creeks and wetlands, the climate also continues to change with the passage of time.

The idea of an extraordinary Nigerian destiny underwent a collective shock with the eruption of the Nigerian civil war. The high hopes offered by the departure of the colonialist from Nigerian's political scape were completely eroded by the crisis of the immediate post-independence era. What was initially a tribal military discord within the elitist cadre of the Nigerian military degenerated into a destructive tangle of national tragedy. Thus, after an inchoate euphoric ecstasy of self-rule, disillusion set in, resulting from what Neil Lazarus (1986) describes as Africa's ‘preliminary overestimation of emancipatory potential’ (p. 50).

The Nigerian civil war is about the ugliest moment in the history of post-colonial Nigeria – a moment of hatreds and sufferings. Benjamin Stora (1999) describes the war scape as a place ‘where gunpowder is in the air and where the combatants' weakness and heroism are revealed’ (p. 80). This period recorded a bumper harvest of artistic and imaginative creativity – most of which painted an apocalyptic vision. Numerous voices spoke of the tragedy and cruelty of the war. Commissioned and non-commissioned officers of the military cabal, Nigerian nationalists, scholars, students and politicians of all sides produced a plethora of print, ranging from autobiographies and memoirs to pamphlets, plays, poetry collections and poems, scattered across the pages of journals and anthologies.