Economic Exploitation in Ime Etuk's "Revolt of the Dogs" - Onyeji Nnaji

Many literary pieces emerge showcasing the height of disappointment the writers have over the societies they painted in their works. The language of the works are always very explicit in the way they show how degraded the society looks in the author's eyes. This is their very purpose for which Ime Etuk wrote her play of "The Revolt of the Dogs". The novel dramatizes the exploitative tendencies of the political class at the expense of the masses.

The play opens with the X-ray of the normal daily life of the inhabitants of Iko Ufen, setting of the play. Members of the community were in a restaurant enjoying themselves with palm wine when suddenly the town cryer arrived with a message from the clan head, summoning the villagers to a meeting at the village square with presents for the clan head.

This has been the situation Everytime. The clan head and the attendant village heads have been milking the people dry. As the characters complained, the leaders have been "imposing tax and other levies on them". This situation has gone the far impoverishing the villagers. The clan head "gives slots and other employment opportunities to his relations only.

The clan head does not end at that. He goes the far exploiting the innocent females in the community. Mma Iko, one of the villagers eventually becomes a victim of this sad experience. She has been rubbished buy the leader's lecherous lifestyle. Mma Iko's case is a difficult one for the clan head made it news in the mouth of his cabinet members, making it difficult for her to get a husband.

The clan head is not alone in this parasitic life; Her Highness, his wife also shares in it. Following the remarks of Mma Iko herself, the wife took all the cottage industries from the community women and collected all the money meant for the women. She single-handedly collected the contract for the harvest of palm oil. She cut off every revenue sources of the women externally and make them suffer a great deal.

The exploitation became so unbearable that it got to the nerves of the community members across the villagers.  And, like a rising flow of the river after a heavy rainfall, the people grew wild and over turned the community via a revolution.