Clean water was basic amenity before petroleum was found in our land. Today, it's a treasure in the sky.

I remember roasting tilapia in mother's kitchen.

"Keep some for Jaime," she would remind me. 

Jaime, my little brother liked it seasoned with much pepper, but he never  complained when it wasn't.

We would go out in small groups to help fishermen wash their nets in exchange for five fist-sized fish for dinner.

But they drilled, and spilled, until life was gone from our rivers.

Father no longer returned with baskets of small fishes. He would sit in the shade reminiscing over bottles of gin. 

Night would come, and he would stagger home with hungry pockets as empty as our belly.

His speech slurred. His bitterness grew larger than river Niger. And the outlet was mother's bleeding body.

" Why? Do you want to kill her before her time?" I screamed at him one evening, angry that my mother always defended him. 

I saw a tear drop from his eyes, before he made his way inside. That was the last time we spoke. 

He couldn't look at me, and I couldn't breathe easily around him.

Soon, a single meal became a feast, and mother's fireplace lied dead most days.

But we didn't realise there was more to come until the twins laid on the mat, like two parallel lines at the edge of the world.

In a space of five years, mother had borne six children for the wind. 

One by one, they left, until the number was back to Jaime and I.

My kins were lost to  the poison in our waters. The stench of which, was like gasoline.

Moreover, father got so ill that life left his bones. Death became an escape, and he exited in a hurry.

I never said sorry for that evening we last talked. It remains my biggest regret.

Nevertheless, each time I look at mother, I'm determined to hold fast a little longer. Although I can't say the same for Jaime who is nearing heavens gate.

Remember, it all began with the discovery of petroleum in Oloibiri, River State. It was a blessing at first.

But today, that blessing is the poison that has wrecked our lives and left me on death's door.