industries could no longer cope with production, the deterioration of public facilities, a
charge of the government, brought about the contemplation of exile. Needless to say, the
failure of local industries provided the increased opportunity for finished commodities
from the West to make inroads into Nigerian markets in the name of liberalization of the
economy. The fences that Klein talks about are to come into full manifestation when the
migrants find themselves in the city of London where, for all its animation of the spirit of
exiles, the exclusionary reality on the ground stares them in the face. The response to the
situation is best captured in the refrain, “ we dey for London like we no dey at all ”.
A similar situation is at play in Ojaide’s When it no Longer Matters Where you Live.
Concentrating on the Niger Delta plight as it plays out in the collection, the dystopian
condition of city life in this region, which runs contrary to the expectations of the people
as they move from their various villages to be part of the perceived prosperity of the oil
cities, ultimately induces movement not only from city to city but from the country to the
West, specifically America. As Ojaide (1999: 244) himself puts it, the condition of
neglect of the region can as well be read as illustrative of the “paradox of sitting on oil
and yet remaining impoverished”. And as seen in the collection, the buck stops at the
desk of the transnational oil corporations whose exploratory activities do not only deplete
the environment but also leave the region with little or nothing to show for its resources.
But more critically, whatever misdemeanour, capitalist and otherwise, that the
transnational firms run away with is made possible through the betrayal of the Nigerian
state. The notoriety of the military in particular for disregarding principles of fairness in
terms of commitment to the development and maintenance of the Niger Delta remains a
contributory factor. This condition is made poignant by the readiness of the region’s elite
class to compromise in matters bordering on the welfare of the region and its peoples, so
long as the selfish interest of this negligible class is satisfied. In a more explicit language,
this is what Biodun Jeyifo (1998: xxxii) refers to as the unfortunate dynamics of the
“spoils of office” and the “spoils of power”.
Not being sympathetic to the interest of the populace, the parties, both internal and
external, are in league to deny the people basic conditions of living. It is this tripartite