Through the Prism of History: Ecological Re-reading of Wale Okediran’s after the Flood

Ikechukwu Asika & Chisom Asika

Abstract

Through the prism of history, this paper examines ecological issues in Okediran’s After the
Flood. Ecological issues have been widely recognized as one of the major threats facing the
planet, as man’s activities continue to endanger his ecosystem leaving in its wake, myriads of
hazards and lethal consequences. Consequent upon this, environmental writers have made
environmental concerns top on the agenda of literature and the creatives. Wale Okediran is one
of the few Nigerian ecological writers whose work continues to attract favourable criticism in
this regard. The paper underscores the environmental issues raised in the novel, most importantly,
the writer’s stance that these crises are largely manmade and avoidable. With ecocriticism as a
theoretical anchor, the study concludes on the confluence of history and literature in addressing
environmental crisis as gleaned from Okediran’s After the Flood, vis-à-vis the practicable ways
environmental issues can be addressed towards a healthy, humane, and more habitable society.

Keywords: Ecology, degradation, exploitation, environment, history, hazard, humanity

Introduction

Unarguable, the ecological crisis is one of the most widely discussed issues at the turn of the 21st
century. The reason is simply in the fact that it has become evidently glaring that our planet is on
the verge of collapse resulting from man’s activities against nature and his natural environment.
For sure, literature as a field of study is not unaffected by this new turn of events, for the
sustenance of ecology and ecological discourse requires a more permeative model which
literature comes in handy by the virtue of its power to reach out and speak to all manner of
persons. It has the peculiarities to last longer and treat issues with more perceptiveness, more
balance, and more inspiration. Therefore, it is no gain saying that literature has a major role to
play in the present environmental crisis as it continues to beam as a pointer to man and his
responsibility to his environment.

Tracing the chronological rise of environmental literature at different epochs in Nigeria,
Chinyere Nwahunaya notes that in general, in all genres represented, (in his book) the concern of



the writers have been mainly on environmental degradation and its consequences; and moral
issues. Others confront issues such as health and disease, lack of infrastructure, the need for
human capital development and capacity building and socio-economic empowerment and
political marginalization of the region… (xix) Environmental issues are fast dominating literary
scene which prompted the present study to pry into the ecological leanings in Wale Okediran’s
After the Flood, as part of contributing to ecocritical discourse and enriching the literature in this
important area of scholarship.

Wale Okediran is one of the voices in Nigerian literature in the 21st century. Like Adichie,
Unaigwe, Ujubuonu, Habila, and a host of other household names, Okediran’s creative talent is
well harnessed to fulfill the goal of literature evident in the corpus of works produced in decades
of writing. Born April 14 1955 in Oyo Nigeria, Okediran has published novels and short stories
in several journals in Nigeria and overseas. In June 2010, together with a few friends, he
established the first writers' Resort in Nigeria, the Ebedi International writers Resort in Iseyin,
Oyo State. A former President of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Okediran is also a
physician, writer, and politician and has represented his constituency in Nigeria’s Federal House
of Representatives. Okediran is a joint winner of the 2010 Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in
Africa which he shared with South Africa’s Kopano Matiwa with his acclaimed novel, Tenants
of the House. His other publications include, The Boys at the Border (1991) Strange Encounters
(2004) Dreams die at Twilight (2001) Rainbows are for Lovers (1987) Tenants of a House (2009)
The Weaving Looms (2005).

First published in 2003, reprinted in 2004, 2008, and revised in 2012, the novel, After the Flood
is set against the background of death and destruction wrought by Ogunpa flood disaster. The
novel is categorized by Anthony Njoku and Gloria Eke as one of the lachrymal works of
literature coming from Africa, a branding Charles Nnolim used to label African literature as
weeping literature, a literature of lamentation, a product of tears from slavery and colonialism.
The critics affirm:

Wale Okediran’s After the Flood stands tall as a gland of tears, a nest of pain, synonymous with
sorrow, mourning, and weeping in the valley of grief. In the novel, beasts and humans are
savagely and tragically cut off from life by wild floods and thunderstorms. Bloated carcasses and
cadavers like zoomed images litter the streets, constituting a tragic scene as elemental forces run
amok… (24).

Okediran ranks among the few Nigerian writers whose works are concerned with the problems
and devastations of the natural environment. Others include Isidore Okpewho, Kaine Agary,
Tanure Ojaide, Ifeoma Okoye, Helon Habila, Chiemeka Garricks, to mention only a few writers.
After the Flood is largely concerned with the problems of flooding, pollution, environmental
degradation which makes it an interesting literary piece for eco-critical discourse. Set in Ibadan,
the novel recreates, though fictionally, the flood devastation of the city of Ibadan in 1980. THIS
DAY newspaper editorial on 31st August 2011 accounts that:



Wale Okediran’s After the Flood is a fictional replay of the inundation of the city of
Ibadan in 1980, which took a toll on lives and property. Okediran acknowledged this
incident as the source of his inspiration in the Sun’s interview of July 6, 2013,
thus, ’After The Flood was inspired by the Ogunpa Flood disaster, which ravaged Ibadan
in 1980’ Indeed, this carnage left indelible relics in the annals of the city and its
inhabitants. (qtd in Njoku and Eke 25)

‘To memorialize that ‘Omiyale’ tragedy, many songs were rendered by leading fuji and juju
artistes of the time while politicians bickered about whose responsibility it was to ensure it
would never happen again. At the end, the Ogunpa River which overflew its banks and resulted
in many of the deaths was channelized and many people believed a lasting solution had been
found. (Njoku and Eke 25) However, Anthony Njoku and Linda Gloria in their criticism of the
novel, After the Flood expose that the novel lacks that mutation necessary for an object that is
bound to become a literary creation through the tinkering craftsmanship of an artist, the
consequences of which are this melodramatic portrayal of reality in a supposedly de facto
fictional world. In their view, Okediran allows the harrowing emotions of flood victims to pour
like the stupendous floods themselves into fiction in a way that makes the reader to wonder if
one is actually in an imaginary universe. Here a very blurred and graphic painting of the
empirical begets fiction (47). Nevertheless, the novel has made its mark on the Nigerian literary
scene and beyond and continues to elicit critical commentaries mostly on eco-critical discourse
in postcolonial Nigeria.

Ecological Issues in Wale Okediran’s After the Flood

Wale Okediran’s After the Flood, like earlier stated, ‘is a fictional replay of the inundation of the
city of Ibadan in 1980, which took a toll on lives and property. Inspired by the Ogunpa Flood
disaster, which ravaged Ibadan in 1980, and the carnage it left behind, the novel presents the
lethal consequences of environmental degradation on not just the environment but on the lives of
the people. The failure to take care of our environment and provide lasting solutions to several
environmental issues is the chief cause of many of the tragedies witnessed not just in Nigeria but
around the world. Ecological issues have become a global concern even as man continues to reap
several of its actions and negligence to the environment. The tragic scenarios and sad atmosphere
that pervade the novel is as a result of the over flooding by the Ogunpa River due to excess rain
beyond what its bowels could carry. For sure, rainfall is a natural phenomenon that is
unavoidable, but how this nature’s gift is managed and harnessed to be harmless on humans is
manmade and can be controlled with careful planning. The beginning of the novel introduces us
to a situation of imminent heavy rainfall. With the howling of the wind and clappings of thunder,
the evening suddenly gave way to a heavy storm. (1)

As a prelude to our argument in this study, it is worthy to note that though it was very heavy rain,
nonetheless, it didn’t take the people by surprise. The rain had started gradually till it increased
to a menacing level and there were warnings and signs from the weather and even weather



reporters. The argument is that in a saner clime and other developed countries where the lives
and property of the people is the sole priority of the government, unlike in Nigeria, from the time
of the weather forecast, adequate measures ought to have been put in place to forestall eventful
moments. Of course, Ogunpa River would not have flooded in the first place if the government
and contractors did their best to dredge as well as provide befitting channels for the flow of the
river. Typical of Nigeria as gleaned from the narrative, people went on with their duties
unconcerned about the rain that has turned to a storm. In civilized countries too, the flooding
would have been detected and measures put in place to avert its looming tragedy and protecting
lives and property will be the sole priority of all concerned agencies. With a state of emergency
earlier declared on the areas near the river, everyone would be placed on red alert and none
would be allowed to engage on frivolities during the predicted time of the rain. Ironically, the
case is in reverse in Nigeria and worst still with Sade, the wife of Stanley who left behind her
little son, Tomi with a young maid, Beauty, two young fellows who are unable to fend for
themselves, to attend a party. Even when the signs were evident that it might flood, the party
occupied a greater portion in her mind that night. ‘This rain is getting heavier. I pray it doesn’t
result in another Ogunpa River flood.’ Sade was feeling nervous. ‘Relax, Sade. How can this
light rain cause a flood? Your house is well built and safe. You know that.’ ‘I hope so, Nana…
‘You know the house isn’t far from the river.’ (5) Despite these initial fears, Sade focused on the
party, celebrating with Nana on her twenty first birthday was her priority. The action of Sade is
only a reflection of the actions of other inhabitants of the city as the storm rages and Ogunpa
River continue to suck in more water before it finally flooded. None was reported to be prepared
for an emergency:

It was now 11 pm and the rain had been falling nonstop for hours. The Ogunpa channel
was having problems coping with the torrential rainfall…. It was not long before the
swollen river broke its bank. The flood became unstoppable as it swept across the land
adjacent to the river’s banks. Before long it washed away the bridges and houses. Since
the river took its source from the northern part of the city where the flood had not yet
exercised its force, houses in this neighbourhood including James’, were yet unaffected.
Thus, the guests at Nana’s party were oblivious of the disaster going on in the city. (8)

Oblivious of the situation, the guests carried on with the party. Men were making advances on
the ladies; lovers were hooking up for the night as Ogunpa river floods the city. Sade too ran into
an old boyfriend, Sam Boyo who discomforted her and made her uneasy all through the party.
Even James, Nana’s man was all eyes for Sade. Beyond their unpreparedness in the face of the
flooding, the inhabitants of the city are guilty of dumping all manner of refuse in the river bed
which impeded the river’s smooth flow and made the flood spread into any available space along
the river. Again, the unplanned nature of the city contributed to the rate of the disaster. The city
was described as overcrowded with several dilapidated and unregulated buildings along the roads.
Houses stand in the water runways and no one cared. The inhabitants of the city in many ways
contribute to the problems leading to environmental disaster supporting our argument here that



environmental degradation and its consequences on the people are largely manmade. What we
witnessed in the narrative the response of an ‘angry nature’ the sole reason the writer described
the flood as ‘an angry flood’ thus:

As the angry flood flowed towards the city and sewage channels, it becomes more violent.
To worsen the situation, different kinds of refuse which the inhabitants of the city had
dumped into the river bed, also impeded the river’s smooth flow, and made the flood
spread into any available space along the river. It caused a great disaster in the
overcrowded heart of the city where the streets were narrow and many dilapidated
buildings stood in utter defiance of planning regulations. Houses here, most of them mud,
were collapsing like sand castles as the destructive tongue of the Ogunpa River licked
them off the ground. (8)

The continual abuse of nature and insensitivity on the parts of the people can only predict far
worse disasters like the Ogunpa River flood as witnessed in the novel. The flooding was terrible
and menacing in all dimensions– children died in their numbers; death, tears, and hardship were
left behind after the disaster. Parents watched helplessly as their children were carried away and
fathers gapped helplessly while their hard earned property float away with the flood like nothing
they had ever since before. Many lost their shanty buildings which shouldn’t have been in
existence in the first place if the government had done more to better the lots of the citizens. In
an oil-rich country such as Nigeria, shanty and mud houses should only be recounted in history
and not in reality but they exist as evidence of poverty, negligence and backwardness which the
country can proudly boast of. The author reports:

The storm had destroyed the power lines and thrown the nieghbourhood into darkness.
Parents could not help their drowning children; neither could children save their parents
from the rampaging monster. Piercing screams of the drowning and the wailing agonies
of mothers who could no longer trace their children were heard in the dark night of horror.
(8)

The novel, After the Flood centers more on Sade and Stanley, the two major characters created
by Wale Okediran to be core representative other humans under the various forms of
environmental degradation and exploitation and its over-reaching consequences on them. The
environmental crisis in the novel was the chief factor that caused Stanley and Sade their peaceful
marriage after the loss of their son, Timi. After the loss of their marriage, their lives never
became the same again and normalcy fled from their lives. Following the loss of their only son,
Tomi, Stanley lost his temper and for the first time in his marriage with Sade, he raised his hands
and did not just beat her but beat her mercilessly to the point of stupor and even to the side of
what looked like an attempted suicide:

As the blood pressure cuff tightened to her left arm, Sade’s mind went back to the one-
week stay in the hospital. She was glad that she was now fully rested and, except for her



swollen left eye and the plaster on her forehead… Stanley had inflicted the injury on her
when he lost his temper. Apart from the swollen eye and the deep gash on the forehead
which had required three stitches, her irate husband had also broken one of the teeth. It
was the hospital porters who came to her rescue when they heard her cries… (14)

The environmental crisis proved enough to destroy not just the lives of Stanley and Sade but the
chains of other characters too. It made some complicit in a crime they would not ordinarily have
committed as we could see in the lives of Pa and Ma Lasisi. Just like the speed of the Ogunpa
flood after it lost its temper, so was the speed of the disaster and the loss in the life of Sade and
other characters. ‘She never thought he could ever lose his temper to the point of hitting her,
something had never done before. (15) Stanley was embittered at the sight of a reckless wife
who abandoned her little child to indulge in what he accused her to be a promiscuous act with
her ex-boy friend at a birthday party. Even Nana accused Sade of attempts to snatch her
boyfriend at the party after she found the colour of Sade’s lipstick on James’ lips. The novel, in a
nutshell, examines the cases of exploitation of the environment, and how the environment is
capable of fighting back, and the extent that the impact of such could be felt as lethal and
devastating.

There is no gainsaying that the level of exploitation and environmental degradation in Wale
Okaderian’s After the Flood is quite alarming and disheartening. The writer employs the use of
certain characters to recount the issues and problems of exploitation. The military government
and the citizens at large are all guilty of exploiting the environment to their collective detriment.
As revealed in the novel, the Ogunpa River is the duty of the government to rebuild. Interestingly,
the government allocated money for the construction of water canals and channels to forestall the
damaging impact of the flooding. Sadly, Stanley’s co-contractors resorted to loot the fund and
employing inferior materials to execute the projects. These contracts become symbolic,
prototypes, and microcosmic representations of selfish leaders, politicians, and individuals who
masquerade all around society holding its peace and progress to ransom. Their efforts translate to
exploitation of both human beings and the environment which the end product of this negligence
results in Ogunpa losing its temper as one of the characters laments while the flood rages on:

‘Ha, Ogunpa has lost her temper,’ a young man from the crowd shouted as he ran from
the scene with the others following him. Suddenly, another clap of thunder rang out and
the mud walls of the shrine collapsed on the frail chief priest. Apart from hundreds of
people made homeless by the flood, countless others either got drowned in the flood or
were killed by the falling walls. Road railway lines and vast areas of farmlands were
washed away. (9)

The above excerpt rings a bell in one’s mind on how poor governance and negligence has eaten
deep into the environment and how a poor environment keeps our lives at risk. One of the
heartbreaking scenes during the flooding is the encounter between an old train driver and his
teeming passengers. In the wake of the flooding, an old driver plunged into the river with his



passengers after he had mistaken the flooded side of the river as the usual rail track, the pathway
on the bridge he follows to cross it regularly. The twenty-coach train glided into the gaping
frothy water of the angry river amidst the screams and wails of the over two hundred women and
children and their lives were lost in the most gruesome manner. (40) The scene of wreckages and
destruction left behind by the flood can best be imagined than described. Deaths, collapsed
buildings, destroyed property, irreplaceable losses, broken dreams, and families who knew their
lives will never remain the same again. The environment like a Dracula opened wide its jaws and
swallowed people in their numbers:

Within that same neighbourhood, the destruction continued unabated. Cars, houses, and
belongings were swept away by the river. The destruction of electricity and all
communication facilities plunged most of the city into pitch blackness. Above the noise
of the storm and thunder, the occasional screams and howls of the dying and drowning
could be heard. Once in a while from the illumination of the lightning, the bodies of
infants and children could be seen floating on the river. And as major water pipes and
aqueducts ruptured, water from the city massive dam was now being added to the
mayhem. Some tension wires electrocuted a great number of people. (41)

Some of the government property located around their river was smashed, all the power line
were destroyed leaving the neigbhourhood in total darkness. People’s life time investments were
shattered as they floated away like garbage. Stanley’s building was also carried away by the
flood while his wife was at her best friend’s 21st birthday, leaving the poor house girl, Beauty to
save the life of the helpless Tomi, barely three months old. While the walls collapse and cave in,
Beauty’s bravery leaves much to be admired as she fought even till the last hour of her death to
save the young innocent Tomi: “…the water level rose rapidly and soon it was waist-high. A
bump at her waist made her look down; she noticed a plastic laundry bucket. It was about two
feet in length and two feet in circumference… she quickly dropped Tomi in the bucket and the
lid shut itself through a spring device attached to the lid…. By now, the water had reached
Beauty’s breast level. She continued crying, trying to see how to escape with the baby in the
bucket. Suddenly another loud clap of thunder rang out and the remaining wall caved in. beauty
was knocked unconscious by the falling brick. She did not feel much pain, not even discomfort
as the water swallowed her. But she lost her grip on the laundry bucket as it swept through the
opening door to join the river which had now overrun the house” (42).

The environmental crisis which culminated in the Ogunpa flood became a deciding factor and a
turning point in the life of Sade and her family. She did not only lose her marriage, she was
heavily criticized by her colleagues and she also faced betrayal from her best friend Nana. In the
end, the city general hospital sacked her for incompetence. Later, she got a job at a Christian
medical hospital by the help of Pastor Adeoye. Yet, while struggling to rebuild her life, her past
came calling. With the scandal her ex-boyfriend published on the front page of the City Echo
newspaper her past engulfed her once more and with the persistent sexual advances of Pastor
Adeoye, Sade’s life was upturned and her struggles take another pedestal.



One of the insightful satirical bits in the novel is the excruciating reality that it is not only the
government that exploits us rather the masses are complicit in fueling exploitation and
environmental crises. As recounted by the author, after the first Ogunpa River disaster that took
hundreds of lives and destroyed properties and government facilities worth millions, the
government gave out money to some contractors to help rebuild the channels to avoid another
flood from happening. Stanley who was among the victim of the flood fortunately was one of the
privileged contractors that got a contract from the government to rebuild the Ogunpa River,
largely because he too was affected by the disaster. Though he did the best he could to make sure
the channels were well built, his fellow contractors were only interested in amassing the contract
allocation. These contractors resorted to buying cheap and fake materials to rebuild the canals
and the excess was dumped in their bank accounts. Some of the loot was channeled to partying,
drinking and lavishing money with young girls all around the town with no care about the
consequences of their actions to human and nature. Stanley’s co-contractors are prototypes of the
cankerworms that daily feed deep into the very fabrics of our everyday lives, and they are found
in many sectors of our society.

After the launching of the newly constructed water channels to forestall future Ogunpa River
flooding menace, there was heavy rain at midnight. Everyone was at peace confident that a
lasting solution has been provided to checkmate the flooding. After all, millions of naira had
been employed to build three gigantic channels in the form of artificial lakes to take care of the
river whenever it decides to overflow its bank. Initially, when the heavy rain started, the Ogunpa
River was taking the storm well. The water from the semi-permeable soil that characterizes the
city was rushing into the wide belly of the river and going down the torrents into the three
artificial lakes. The lakes seemed to be holding out well as the run-off water carrying a large
amount of sediment continued to be trapped in these wide bowls of concrete and earth. (142) Yet,
it was only a matter of time before midnight that the anger of Ogunpa erupted again and the city
flooded once more, this time on innocent and unprepared populace who slept calmly in the hope
that the flooding has been taken care of by the huge investment the government allocated to
building the canals. Ironically, the flooding was more devastating and destructive than it had
ever been in the history of the Ogunpa flooding. Houses were swept away, government
properties destroyed and hundreds of lives lost in a more agonizing and traumatizing manner. A
humorous but painful experience transpired in a popular brothel in the city during the flooding.
In a popular three-storeyed brothel in the red light district, commercial sex workers and their
patrons were seen running up to the third floor just before the whole building gave away. People
clung hopefully to the roofs of their houses, while buildings disintegrated burying the occupants
under torus of masonry, wood and water. (143) One can only pause a while to imagine the tragic
end of the prostitutes and their clients and from a religious viewpoint will try to imagine them
facing their Creator before the judgment throne. The writer laments: “Ironically, the lakes which
had been constructed to save the people had turned out to be the chief culprits in the disaster. The
flood several million cubic meters in valuing has struck and flattened completely the high density
commercial nerve centre of the town. It was indeed a night of tears and sorrow” (143).



Bulldozers were deployed to aid rescue workers in the grim task of recovering the dead bodies.
The workers could also be seen in their masks wading through the mud as they searched for
corpses (144). The damages caused by the Ogunpa River were disastrous. The anguished cries of
an elderly woman suddenly rent the air; her two-year old grandson’s corpse was picked up from
a nearby culvert… (144). Some women were lucky to find their children alive, hundreds of
others were not. The lucky ones among the lost children found themselves, foster parents, just
like the case of Tomi, Sade’s boy who was discovered by Pa and Ma Lasisi. They found the baby
in the second disaster of Ogunpa River and decided to take care of him as their own since their
children were wiped away in the first disaster caused by Ogunpa River. The couple keeps the
baby they found with no consideration of the travails and psychological trauma of the real
parents following their loss. They named him Moses. It was years later, after the terrible accident
that claimed the life of Pa Lasisi and left Ma Lasisi at the point of death, that she handed the
baby, now grown to the white doctor, Dr. Graham: ‘I want the white… the white doctor to take
care of … of the baby please, adopt him, and treat him like your child…. (70). Ma Lasisi failed
to divulge the identity of Moses before she passed on; nonetheless, Dr Graham granted her the
wish and took care of Tomi before he travelled back to his country with his wife and left him at
the mercy of another couple, Mr. and Mrs. Shelima.

True the second Ogunpa flooding cannot be blamed on the government or the residents of the
city, nevertheless, the environmental crisis was orchestrated by human beings embodied in the
actions of the contractors who siphoned public funds and resorted to cheap materials for the
construction of Ogunpa River channels, which is the crux of our argument here. Again, it is the
duty of the government to put measures in place to checkmate and certify projects they awarded.
Such was not the case in the novel and if one looks deeper, one is likely to find some of the
government officials in collusion with the contractors and their palms greased with a fair
percentage of the loot which invariably makes the government complicit in the crime and other
individuals culprit in the miasma of exploitation, corruption and environmental abuse.

Following the massive outcry from the general public for the heads of the contractors and
politicians involved in the execution of the contract, Stanley, one of the contractors, knew that
the military government was bound to ask questions and carry out an investigation about the
cause of the flood again. He was seen sweating profusely, as his heart beat wildly within his
chest. He would feel better if civilians were in power. But with the soldiers now in charge of
affairs in the country, he could not predict how they were going to react to the incident. (145)
Stanley, during the heat generated by the flooding, realizes how much he was cheated in the
entire project. While he was given two million naira to execute his side of the contract, the other
two contractors received a whopping sum of over fifty million naira. Though he executed his part
of the contract solidly with expertise, yet, he knew he still had questions to answer as one of the
contractors of the project. While on his quest to leave the country, Stanley was clamped down by
the military government who placed an express order for the contractors to report themselves to
the nearest police station. They were all arrested and investigation only confirmed that the



majority of the contractors used inferior materials to rebuild the river banks in other to make
their self-gain. Apart from the carnage and massive loss after the flood, an outbreak of disease
such as cholera and typhoid was imminent in the whole city all consequences of man’s abuse and
negligence of his environment. Though Stanley was innocent since he executed his part of the
contract patriotically, nevertheless, in the spur of the moment, he was arrested alongside the rest
of the contractors and with the evidence that he tried to leave the country after the flooding; he
was found guilty and subsequently detained in Kirikiri maximum prison.

Years later, following several interventions, Sade was able to secure Stanley’s release from
prison. But before his release, Sade discovers the existence of her lost son, courtesy of the
laundry bucket she found, a bucket she lost years ago after the flood. It was the same laundry
bucket Beauty had placed Tomi on that night of flood before she died and with that discovery
Sade passed through several bizarre experiences to recover her son. Sade ends up in prison, after
she was accused of stealing a child. She had stolen Tomi, now Moses, and ran since Mr. and Mrs.
Shelima could not release the boy to her for want of evidence to back up her claim as his mother.
Stanley secures his release through the process already initiated by Sade and he goes in search of
her with a lawyer to secure her release, armed with evidence to reclaim their child. The writer
captures this last scenario thus:

When Mr. Opobo arrived in Kano the following day, he was allowed to see Sade in the company
of Stanley. Sade was ecstatic to see the two of them and she clung to Stanley and cried profusely.
‘I never knew you would come. I thought I’d reach the end,’ she said, in between sobs. ‘Yes, I
am here. I was just released two days ago. Very soon my dear, our son will be free too,’ Stanley
replied, as he held the trembling body of his. ‘It seems like a dream,’ Sade continued. ‘My dear,
I’ve come for you and it’s not a dream… from now on, all will be well.’ (193)

All are expected to be well again for the couple though it will be difficult trying to fix their lives
together again moving forward. In a similar fashion, all are invariably expected to be well if man
will learn how better to deal and cope with nature. Ogunpa River’s temper that resulted to
flooding and loss of lives is only a representation of several other examples, across the globe
where nature has lost its temper and charges destructively due to man’s excesses and abuse.
Again, Stanley's appearance to save Sade leaves a lesson that connects to our critical thoughts on
man and his natural environment. Sade, shoving the past away, did everything she could to
secure Stanley’s release and before her actions could come to fruition, she steals ‘her child’ and
lands in prison awaiting the worst until Stanley, now free, came for her. This cyclic bout of good
gestures only proves that ‘one good deserves another. And drawing from this inspiration, to sum
up our argument in this paper, we end that: one good turn on the environment will definitely
deserve another. If we take care of the environment, all will certainly be well with us just as it
obviously will be in the lives of Stanley and Sade afterwards. On the contrary, if we neglect the
environment and continue to abuse, rob, and exploit it, the consequence of its anger and
retaliation will certainly be at the height of human peril. This lesson is clear and seems the most
vital take-home knowledge from the chains of episodic and sordid events that made up the



structural framework of the disheartening story of a flood disaster made possible by the
negligence of the environment in Wale Okediran’s After the Flood.

Conclusion

The novel, After the Flood, brings to the limelight the consequences of environmental
degradation and manmade actions against the nation. From the government who amass who
neglect their duties to the politicians who fuel and profit from the neglect, down to the citizens
who fail to do their part to protect nature, the natural environment, and the entire ecosystem, the
novel satirically sound the bell on impending environmental crises around us. All around us
today and glaring signs of imminent environmental ‘anger’ and ‘protest’ looming as a result of
our activities to nature, typical of Ogunpa River anger that left carnages and traumatic relics
behind.

Wale Okediran through careful and artistic creation and placement of these events and incidents
or situations, beckoned on the minds of everyone concerned on the need to embrace lasting
solutions towards curbing the environmental challenges. There is something for us to learn from
history if we must forestall future environmental disasters looming all around us. This is akin to
the position of Anthony Njoku and Gloria Eke that ‘What goes around comes around and in as
much as humans, especially Africans, in view of our common experience, tend not to learn from
history. There was an encore in August 2011 when another tragedy struck. The author recognizes
this fact in the same Sun’s interview and noted: ‘When the same flood disaster occurred in
Ibadan two years ago, Longman re-issued the book for wide spread distribution to schools in
Oyo State as a way of reminding us about the ability of history to repeat itself if care is not
taken.’ (25) It is high time we allowed history to guide our further decisions and dealings with
our environment which is posing greater danger daily and threatens our collective existence.

To this end, the paper reechoes that the novel, After the Flood makes an interesting ecocritical
reading. It hinges on the lethal consequences and aftermaths of environmental abuse and
pollution thus the fitting title –after the flood– what awaits us at the end of nature’s tunnel after
our deed of abuse and exploitation is done at our own end of the tunnel. Environmental crises
can largely be avoided if we are honest enough to admit the truth and assume full responsibility
for our ecosystem. The novel, After the flood, no doubt will continue to elicit critical thoughts
that will enrich scholarship in eco-critical discourse but beyond all that will be said, the lesson is
imprinted in our hearts that the environment is our to nurture not to plunder, our to save and not
to loot.

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