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Kaine Agary’s
‘Yellow Yellow’ has a captivating title. It leaves you wondering what
it is about if you haven’t read the book. The story on the other hand
kicks off from the very first chapter. The reader is led into the plot
of the book from the start, and is not left wondering what the story is
about. ‘Yellow Yellow’ parodies the critical issue of crude oil in the
Niger Delta region. There is oil spillage on hectares of land in
Zilayefa’s village, caused by the vandalism of oil pipelines.
Zilayefa’s mother is also affected and she loses her means of income to
this.

Zilayefa, the
progagonist through whom the events are seen, is an innocent young girl
until she leaves the village. She is called ‘yellow yellow’ by everyone
in the village because of her complexion, which isn’t much of a
controversy until she goes to the city. She is of mixed heritage, born
to an Ijaw mother and a Greek father. She does not know much about her
father except that he was a sailor who came to Nigeria and left her
mother high and dry.

In search of a
better life and what she calls ‘freedom’, Zilayefa leaves for Port
Harcourt, but the city is not all it is cut out to be, as she soon
finds out. Although she lives a comfortable life with Sisi, she is
surrounded by the constant fear and poverty of the Abacha regime. She
is also faced with the controversial issue of her skin colour and is
considered different. Those with this type of skin colour are called
‘born-troways’, ‘African profits’, ‘ashawo pikins’, ‘father–unknowns’
and other such labels. And she is definitely no exception. She speaks
of the discrimination against her colour thus, “I came to understand
that people had preconceived notions about others of mixed race, they
thought we were promiscuous, undisciplined and confused.” Now away from
the watchful eye of her mother, she starts to date a much older man;
Retired Admiral Alaowei Amalayefa is old enough to be her father. She
seems to enjoy the attention of this older man who is like the father
she never knew. However, all the doting love stops when she gets
pregnant. Reality dawns on her and she has to continue with her life by
ending that of her unborn child. ‘Yellow Yellow’ is not only about
Zilayefa. Rather, her story is cleverly intertwined with other
interesting issues, one of which is the political situation of the
country. The background of the novel is obviously the military regime.
Zilayefa speaks of an ‘unpredictable leader’ and a democracy where
there is only one candidate running for the post of president.

Another issue worth
mentioning is the Niger Delta crisis. The main event in the first
chapter says something about this. After the oil spillage on her farm,
Zilayefa’s mother along with others makes complaints to the village
head, Amananaowei, who seems powerless to do anything about the matter.
The victims are not compensated and the vandals are not apprehended.
This parodies the nation’s corrupt system where justice does not
prevail.

Zilayefa speaks of
justice thus: “People did not call the police to settle disputes, and
even when they did and a matter was charged to court, there was so
little confidence in the fairness of justice that very few waited for
the court’s decision…”

Agary successfully
describes the hustle and bustle of city life in Port Harcourt in the
‘90s, a milieu with its fair share of mixed race residents. They were
the aftermath of the relationships between white businessmen and local
women. The white men left for their countries as soon as their business
was completed. The Nigerian woman was then left alone to bear the
burden of the products of their relationships. Thus a notion was
created around the children, that they were the product of ‘ashawo’
mothers who were looking for greener pastures with white men. And
indeed some of them were, as the Zilayefa vividly describes the
situation.

“I could find my
way to a place like Bonny, the base of expatriates working for the oil
companies, and sell my body to a whitey.” This is a portrayal of the
fact that the white expatriates in the Niger Delta region are sought
after for a means of livelihood. What is also clear, is tht the women
are forced to do this because of the economic situation they find
themselves in.

Agary writes about
the Niger Delta from a feminist perspective. This is almost unusual,
considering that most of the writing about this region is about the men
and their plight. Agary portrays the woman as being exploited at home
and in the society at large. The narration of the novel is very simple
and not fantastic. However Agary’s use of Pidgin English and Ijaw makes
the narration more compelling to the reader. The novel has an
interesting story except that it seems to end on a rather dull note,
failing to live up to the promise at the beginning of the novel. The
reader is left wondering what happens next.