Eco-Critical Analysis of Selected Punch Online News on Flooding in Nigerian Coastal Communities

Cite this article as: Aongo, S. F., Makinde, P. O., & Ochefije, G. O. (2026). Eco-critical analysis of selected Punch online news on flooding in Nigerian coastal communities. Sokoto Journal of Linguistics and Communication Studies (SOJOLICS), 2(1), 369-381. https://doi.org/10.36349/sojolics.2026.v02i01.032

By

Solomon Fashie Aongo. PhD
Department of English, Federal University of Lafia, Nigeria

&

Peter Oyewole Makinde, PhD
Department of Linguistics, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria

&

Godday Ochoyebo Ochefije
Department of English, Federal University of Lafia, Nigeria
ochefijegodday@gmail.com

Abstract

The media significantly shapes social realities and engenders development through reporting. This study examines how Punch onlinenews reports construct the relationship between human and natural environment. Using Stibbe’s (2015) ecolinguistics framework, two Punch onlinenews reports were purposively selected. The analysis focuses on Stibbe’s concepts of “Stories We Live by” which underscores how ideologies, identity construction, and framing can reinforce destructive or beneficial environmental practices through discourse. Findings show two contrasting ecological representations through anthropocentric, technocentric and ecocentric ideologies. One report constructs a beneficial story that represents humans as agents of environmental restoration through collective action and sustainability. On the contrary, the second report portrays a destructive story that represents humans as victims of environmental calamities. As such, it omits human factors such as deforestation, industrial activities, poor urban and regional planning and waste mismanagement. The two reports erase these human induced causes of environmental degradation and foregrounds majorly humanitarian needs and disaster management. The study concludes that Punch online newspaper prioritises humanitarian framing over ecological accountability. Thus, it produces narratives that limit environmental consciousness. It is recommended that media institutions should adopt reports that are ecologically informed to project environmental preservation, human responsibility and sustainable coexistence with the natural environment.

Keywords: Ecolinguistics, Stories We Live by, News Report, Punch

1.0 Introduction

Echendu (2020) and Mokwa (2025) acknowledge flooding as a recurring environmental crisis in Nigeria. They emphasized the damage flooding has caused to human lives, and the ecosystems. Flooding events across Nigeria such as the 2025 Mokwa flood and flooding incidents in Benue, Kaduna, Bayelsa and Anambra States resulted in large-scale displacement, and loss of livelihoods. These incidents underscore the high rate of vulnerability of Nigerian communities to environmental hazards especially coastal, and riverside communities who face higher risks due to rise in high rainfall, rise in sea level, erosion, and geomorphological exposure. Thus, these incidents make them critical sites for environmental and discursive inquiry.

Despite governments’ reactive measures, this crisis persists primarily due to the presence of water bodies and major rivers (River Benue and River Niger) stretched across the country (Umechukwu, Sarpong, Mensah-Bonsu, Ahene-Codjoe & Kim, 2025). During such flooding occurrence, the most adversely affected people are rural dwellers who reside near river for fishing and farming activities given the role of agriculture as the major occupation and contributor to rural economy across the country (Isimah, Chukwurah, &Nnoli, 2025). It is reported that annually, residents mostly in rural areas across several states in Nigeria are displaced and their farmlands flooded (Iwuchukwu &Ezedinachi, 2025). This resulted in loss of lives, properties and the collapse of rural economy (Iwuchukwu &Ezedinachi, 2025). Some of the major causes have been identified as torrential rainfall, accumulated water released fromLagdo Dam in Cameroon among other causes (Sudan, 2025). There have been debates in public domain about what government has done and measures they put in place to tame this crisis. However, negligence by government, and lack of flood-control infrastructural projects like dam majorly contributed to this ravaging menace (Sudan, 2025).

It is an experiential fact that humans have inextricable relationship with the natural world. In one of the most visible ways, animals, including human beings depend on the natural ecosystem to produce food and other essential materials for survival and livelihood. Thus, the role of discourse, a ubiquitous communicative phenomenon, which controls human actions and shapes human perceptions of the natural world, cannot be overemphasized (Agbeleoba, Orebe, Adekunle-Ojo, & Owolabi, 2025). Through linguistic choices, humans construct, reproduce and circulate ideologies that influence how society idealizes and interact with the environment (Agbeleoba et al., 2025). In recent times, environmental degradation, oil spillage, loss of biodiversity, gas flaring, climate crises, bush burning, deforestation and flooding generate interest in how discourse contributes to environmental issues whether negatively or positively (Alawade&Obun-Andy, 2024). Therefore, a study of this nature onecological discourse from the lens of Stibbe’s ecolinguistics framework forms a paramount area that cannot be ignored.

In Nigerian environmental landscape, issues such as flooding, erosion, desertification, and oil pollution are serious threats to biodiversity. However, despite day-to-day media coverage, the manner in which environmental challenges are presented shows how underlying sociocultural ideologies and institutional priorities contribute to the actual causes of ecological damages. News reports, while projecting human suffering and governmental interventions, have failed to address the ecological causes of the crisis, most especially from an ecolinguistics point of view. Addressing the neglect of this pattern of representation will aid in shaping public attitudes toward the environment. Thus, this study examines two environmental news reports by Punch online newspapers in Nigeria, thereby contributing to the body of knowledge in the field of ecolinguistics within African discourse studies.

It is also necessary to state that despite the severity of flooding incidents, scholars’ attention has unduly been concentrated on vulnerability assessment or damages, and disaster management frameworks to attract humanitarian agencies for intervention. There is however a limited engagement in the appropriate discursive construction of environmental crises. Modeyin, Inobemhe, & Udeh (2025) confirm that flooding in Nigeria is not just a natural phenomenon, but a socio-environmental issue caused by poor urban planning, and climate change as previously asserted above. However, these studies rarely interrogate how such realities are represented and ideologically mediated in public discourse, particularly in mass media.

Media institutions play a crucial role in shaping environmental consciousness by influencing policy responses and constructing public understanding of ecological crises. Empirical studies on Nigerian newspapers reveal that flooding narratives are framed around technical solutions and disaster response strategies. This creates competing discourses emphasizing either prevention or adaptation (Adekola & Lamond, 2018). More recent ecolinguistic studies have begun to explore the linguistic and visual framing of flood events to demonstrate how the media influence public perception and environmental attitudes (Agwuocha, 2023; Agbeleoba et al., 2025; Modeyin, Inobemhe, & Udeh, 2025; &Olakitan, 2025). Nevertheless, these studies remain limited in scope as they focus on aggregated newspaper datasets or isolated case studies without particular attention to specific media platforms such as Punch onlineor to coastal communities as ecologically distinct spaces. Crucially, there is a lack of eco-critical analysis in the Nigerian context. Eco-criticism goes beyond surface-level framing to interrogate how discourse constructs human–nature relationships, and reproduces or challenges anthropocentric ideologies. The absence of such an approach leaves a significant gap in how the ideologies that underpin media narratives on flooding are understood, particularly in relation to environmental justice, and the marginalization of vulnerable coastal populations. Furthermore, the rapid shift toward digital journalism has transformed news production and consumption, introducing multimodal elements such as images, and interactive features that shape meaning-making processes. Yet existing studies have not sufficiently examined how these digital affordances influence the representation of environmental crises.

 

2.0 Literature Review

2.1 Environmental and Socioeconomic Perspectives of Flooding in Nigeria, Ecolinguistics and News Reports

Flooding is widely recognized as a major environmental hazard in Nigeria, with far-reaching ecological and socioeconomic implications. Studies show that flooding results from a combination of natural processes (e.g., heavy rainfall, river overflow) and anthropogenic factors such as deforestation, poor drainage, and urban expansion (Modeyin, Inobemhe, & Udeh, 2025). Major flood events, including the 2017 Benue State flooding and the 2025 Mokwa disaster, demonstrate the increasing frequency and intensity of such occurrences, often leading to displacement, infrastructural damage, and economic loss (Olakitan, 2025 & Mokwa, 2025).

Coastal communities are particularly vulnerable due to their low-lying topography and exposure to oceanic forces, which exacerbate flooding risks. Government interventions such as the Emadike Shoreline’s (This Day, 2024) project illustrate attempts to mitigate these impacts, yet the persistence of flooding highlights the complexity of the problem and the need for multidimensional approaches that incorporate ecolinguistic lens in the exploration of ecological discourse in Nigeria.

Study on ecolinguistics was first traced to Haugen (1972) in his paper The Ecology of Language as a branch of Sociolinguistics. Haugen (1972) examines the relationship between language and the natural environment; and points out that language is a part of an ecosystem that exists within a web of interrelationships that consist of speakers, communities and their environment. Haugen (1972) argues that language cannot be studied distinctly from the environmental and social contexts in which it exists. Therefore, ecolinguistics originally emerged from Sociolinguistics but gradually evolved into a distinct field concerned with how language shapes and reflects realities of our ecosystem (Fill &Mühlhäusler, 2001). Over time, the field of ecolinguistics expanded beyond Haugen’s view to a critical approach that connects the use of language to sustainable environmental practices. For instance, Halliday (1990) draws attention to how language contributes to the destruction of the environment in his lecture, “New Ways of Meaning: The Challenge to Applied Linguistics.” In this lecture, Halliday proposes that the focus in language analysis should be on developing ways of language use that encourage and promote eco-friendly activities. This laid the foundation for the critical ecolinguistic approach which investigates how language contributes to or resists ecological damage.

Two major traditions are recognised as approaches to ecolinguistics. These are the symbolic and critical perspectives. The symbolic perspective is rooted in the work of Haugen who views the ecology of language as the study of linguistic diversity, language maintenance and the interrelationship between languages and their environments (Mühlhäusler, 2003). This tradition explains the nexus between languages and their social and ecological settings. It posits that the knowledge of language and ecology are inseparable. Thus, language death can lead to the loss of ecological knowledge that is embedded in that language. On the other hand, critical ecolinguistics is an approach that was pioneered by scholars such as Fill (1996), Mühlhäusler (2003) and Stibbe (2015). The critical approach goes beyond describing the intricate nexus between linguistic knowledge and the ecosystem to investigate the stories and ideologies that underpin environmental discourses. In the book, Language, Ecology and the Stories We Live By, Stibbe (2015) notes that discourse carries “stories we live by”. These stories are narratives that carry cognitive and cultural knowledge that shape how we perceive the natural environment. These stories are either destructive, that is when they justify environmental degradation or beneficial when they promote preservative ecological practices. Therefore, ecolinguistic analysis is an environmental activism that seeks transformation of language into advocacy for environmental sustainability.

Another key aspect of ecolinguistics is the integration of media discourse from news report lens. A news report is a written or spoken representation or account of happenings or events within a period of time in a given territory presented through media channels such as newspapers, radio, television or digital platforms. The aim of news reporting is to inform the masses about matters that are relevant to the wellbeing of society be it social, political or economic. van Dijk (1988) views that news reports are not neutral reflections of reality but are constructed texts which are shaped by institutional, cultural and ideological factors. To him, news reporting involves choices about what to include, exclude or emphasise, and these choices influence how readers perceive events. From another lens, Fowler (1991) describes news as a “representation, not a reflection, of reality.” This means that news discourse constructs meaning and represents or mirrors society rather than simply conveying facts. Therefore, a review of literature on flooding in Nigeria, ecolinguistics and media discourse has implication for study on eco-critical analysis of flooding in Nigeria.

2.2 Media Framing of Flooding in Nigeria and the incorporation of Ecolinguistic and Eco-Critical Approaches

Media framing theory has been widely applied to understand how environmental issues are constructed in public discourse. A study by Adekola and Lamond (2018) examined Nigerian newspaper coverage of flooding and identified divergent narratives among key actors, including government agencies, local communities, and international organizations. The study revealed a tension between preventive approaches (emphasized by local actors) and adaptive strategies (advocated by multilateral organizations). Similarly, other empirical analyses show that Nigerian newspapers tend to frame flooding in terms of disaster and emergency response, infrastructural failure and policy responsibility (Eze &Ukonu, 2025; & Okoro, Odoemelam, &Obayi, 2013). These studies highlight the role of the media in shaping public discourse and influencing policy directions. However, they are predominantly quantitative and descriptive, focusing on thematic categorization rather than interpretive depth.

Recent scholarships have begun to incorporate ecolinguistics into the study of environmental discourse. Ecolinguistic research examines how language reflects and shapes ecological relationships, emphasizing the role of discourse in constructing environmental realities. For instance, studies analyzing Nigerian newspaper reports demonstrate that linguistic framing of flood events influences public perception and response, revealing underlying ideological positions. Eco-criticism extends this perspective by interrogating representations of nature, human–environment relationships, and power dynamics in environmental discourse (Agwuocha, 2023). Despite its relevance, eco-critical analysis remains underutilized in Nigerian media studies, particularly in relation to flooding.

Our reviewed literature reveals several critical gaps. First is the theoretical gap showing limited application of eco-critical frameworks in analyzing Nigerian media discourse on flooding. Methodologically, the review showed overreliance on quantitative content analysis, with insufficient use of qualitative. Contextually, there is also a lack of focus on coastal communities as distinct ecological and socio-cultural spaces. Another neglected area is the ideological gap, which shows insufficient attention to issues of environmental justice, agency, and power relations in media representations. On this note, the present study addresses these gaps by integrating eco-critical theory, and digital media studies to examine how Punch onlineconstructs flooding narratives in Nigerian coastal communities. The study contributes to scholarships by providing a holistic, interdisciplinary understanding of environmental discourse, bridging the divide between environmental science and media studies.

3. Methodology

This study adopts a descriptive research design and textual discourse analysis to analyze how punch news reports represent and construct the relationships between human beings and the natural environment. Two Punch online reports were purposively selected and downloaded from punchng.com for analysis. Stibbe’s (2015) ecolinguistics framework is employed to identify and examine ideologies, identities, and framing in order to evaluate how Punch online news reports represent flooding and associated human activities in Nigerian coastal communities. The data are analysed using qualitative method and descriptive content analysis. The secondary data consists of journal articles, textbooks, and other internet sources.

4.0 Theoretical Framework: Stibbe’s (2015) Ecolinguistics Framework

Stibbe’s(2015) ecolinguistics framework is adopted for this study. According to Stibbe (2015), ecolinguistics investigates the “stories we live by”; that is, the recurring narratives, ideologies and frames that influence how people think and interact with the ecosystem. These narratives show whether societies engender environmentally sustainable practices or destructive ecological practices. Stibbe (2015) differentiates between beneficial discourses and destructive discourses. Beneficial discourses are those that promote sustainable environmental practices while destructive discourses promote human exploitation of the environment. Stibbe (2015) proposes the following analytical tools for ecolinguistic enquiry. These are ideology, framing, evaluation, erasure and identity construction. To Stibbe (2015), ideology refers to attitudes and beliefs that are embedded in a language and shape how humans conceive the environment. Framing, on the other hand, refers to the linguistic organization of events that enables oneto determine what aspects of reality are brought forward or relegated. Stibbe (2015) reiterates further that evaluation is concerned with the psychological and cognitive position of the text toward environmental events and practices. In addition, while erasure deals with the omission of contributory factors to environmental damage or destruction, identity examines how humans and institutions are positioned and their given roles in environmental degradation and sustainability (Döring & Zunino, 2014; & Stibbe, 2015).

This framework is adopted to investigate how Punch onlinenewspapers reports frame environmental discourse and uncover the ideologies embedded in them. The framework is suitable for this present study as it enables the analysis of how ideologies, identities and framing construct beneficial and destructive narrative in the selected Punch online newspapers on flooding in Nigerian coastal communities that this study aims at exploring.

5. Data Presentation and Analysis

The data presentation and analysis are presented into two sessions in relation to the objectives raised in the introductory section. This enables an elaborate examination of how ideologies, identities and framing construct beneficial and destructive narrative in selected Punch online newspapers on flooding in Nigerian coastal communities.

5.1. Data 1: Ecological Ideologies in selected Punch Online News on Flooding in Nigerian Coastal Communities

News Headline:“Flood Disaster: States Intensify Action as 232 Die, 121,000 Displaced”

Source:punchng.com, September 23, 2025.

The news headlined “Flood Disaster: States Intensify Action as 232 Die, 121,000 Displaced” is a report by Punch on September 23, 2025. It gives a nationwide account of flooding incidents in Nigeria, first by reporting that “232 persons have lost their lives, while 121,224 others have been displaced” in Nigeria in 2025. This report gives an account of flooding across states in Nigeria.

A. Ideologies in the Report: Anthropocentric and Technocratic Ideology

This report concentrates on Nigerians by giving account of lives lost to flooding and the numbers of people that have been displaced, thus exposing readers to humanitarian challenges and raising concern about the lives of Nigerians. The report foregrounds human suffering and material loss as captured in the following excerpts from the report: “232 persons have lost their lives, while 121,224 others have been displaced” emphasizing the effect on human lives, communities and agricultural activities. The catastrophic nature of the disaster is further highlighted in the excerpt: “The disaster also left 42,301 houses damaged and destroyed about 48,447 hectares of cultivated farmlands.” By this representation humans are positioned as victims of external hostile forces of nature specifically flooding. The flood is depicted as an uncontrollable disaster “sweeping through parts of the country,” with no reference to human activities such as deforestation, blocked waterways or poor urban planning that contribute to the flooding.

The second ideology in this report is technocratic environmental management, that is, the emphasis on institutional control and intervention during flooding incidents. This highlights the role of government, non-governmental organisations among other social institutions capable of mitigating the effects of flooding on the people. This is highlighted in the following excerpts of the report: “The state governments have intensified campaigns to avert flood crisis … The Jigawa State Government invested N4.2bn in flood mitigation and emergency response efforts.” These excerpts highlight government’s readiness to resolve environmental crises. It projects flooding as issues that can be managed rather than prevented. The language also reflects confidence in bureaucratic systems in managing the crisis but neglects ecological restoration and sustainable practices.

B. Framing

Framing determines how events are viewed or perceived through discourse. The dominant frame in the text depicts flooding as natural disaster. This is captured in the following excerpts, “Flood disaster claims 232 lives … Flood ravages 61 communities … The disaster left thousands displaced.” These excerpts represent flooding as catastrophe plaguing humanity. They background the ecological context which includes climate change, deforestation or poor drainage and industrial activities that might have contributed to the flooding. The narrative is episodic as it reports and projects numerous damages as sudden misfortune rather than systemic and constructive portrayal of the flooding as a consequence of environmental mismanagement.

C. Identities

The report constructs the following identities represented by these excerpts: humans as victims and dependents; government and agencies as rescuers and saviours; nature as destructive and hostile. The proceeding excerpts represent these identities as follows: “We have recorded 15 deaths and close to 1,000 households displaced … Government provided food and shelter while we recovered … Governor Uba Sani reassured residents of his administration’s commitment to flood control.” These representations erase the agency of local communities and industrialists. Therefore, it generally frames citizens as passive recipients of natural occurrences, thereby associating and portraying nature as an aggressor and destructive agent.

One of the critical ecolinguistic observations is the erasure of other living organisms in the ecosystem. The report does not mention animals, ecosystems or biodiversity but focuses only on human beings, houses and farmlands as seen in the excerpt, “Destroyed about 48,447 hectares of cultivated farmlands.” This portrays that nature exists only as backdrop to human tragedy or survival. This silence exemplifies Stibbe’s (2015) notion of erasure where discourses exclude non-human or natural bodies from public concern. The deletion of plants, animals reveal a deep anthropocentric worldview; thus, it sustains what Stibbe calls a destructive story we live by.

5.2. Data 2: Identity Representation and Framing of selected PunchOnline Newson Flooding in Nigerian Coastal Communities

NewsHeadline: “NDDC Launches Tree Planting Drive to Combat Coastal Erosion”

Source: Punch on 30 September 2025.

The headline, “NDDC Launches Tree Planting Drive to Combat Coastal Erosion” is a news report by Punch on 30 September 2025. In this report, linguistic choices, framing and ideologies construct a beneficial ecological discourse that promote awareness of human responsibility in environmental restoration.

A. Ideologies

Unlike anthropocentric narratives that give credence to human needs above environmental loss or damage, this report reflects an ecocentric ideology as it emphasises environmental stewardship and restoration. The excerpt below exemplifies this: “The Commission is committed to mitigating the impact of coastal erosion through massive tree planting.” This excerpt from the news report gives agency to humans. It makes them agents of environmental revitalisation and does not destructively portray them as passive victims of nature by shifting blames to nature. This kind of action would promote ecological awareness. It gives humans position as responsible environmental actors.

B. Framing

This report seeks to revitalise natural environment through tree planting. Thus, it underscores a proactive environmental intervention frame rather than disaster or flooding management. The frame of restoration reflects in this report as captured in this statement, “The initiative aims to curb erosion and restore degraded lands in coastal communities.” The focus here is on solutions, renewal and revival rather than the disaster frame seen in destructive discourses. Unlike destructive discourses that erase the role of nature, this text restores environmental presence by referencing animals, plants and landscapes as parts of environmental restoration and management. However, the silence on industrial causes of erosion, such as oil exploration or construction is not mentioned. By not addressing these, the text erases industrial activities that are inimical to environmental sustainability and management. Although the erasure is minimal and does not totally neglect human-induced causes of environmental hazard, but a more critical inclusion could have balanced the discourse and given it a beneficial frame.

C. Identities

There are three identities derivable from this excerpt “The NDDC urged residents to take ownership of the tree planting exercise.” It presents the NDDC as a guardian and leader in environmental protection, community members as participants in environmental restoration and the environment as a living ally that deserves care and respect. This inclusion of human and non-human participants interconnects ecological identities which Stibbe (2015) considers vital for sustainable living.

6. Discussion of Findings

The analysis of the two media reports reveals different constructions of the relationship between human and environment. The NDDC tree planting report constructs a narrative that empowers environmental consciousness through active verbs such as "launched," "tackle," and "combat," to position human actors as stewards of the environment. The discursive framing here aligns with what Alexander and Stibbe (2014) describe as ecocentric representation, where humans are constructed not as dominators of nature but as participants in sustaining the environment. In a sharp contrast, the flood disaster report is a destructive ecological story through its anthropocentric framing where nature is represented as antagonistic. Expressions such as "floods ravage," "sweep through," and "destroy and displace" endow flooding with aggressive behaviour while human are rendered as passive victims. This linguistic choice is in line with what Stibbe (2015) identifies as "destructive discourse," which conceals the human causes of ecological crises by naturalising them as inevitable. As Döring (2018) observes, disaster reports that frame flooding as merciless forces contribute to spreading fear while suppressing the human-induced drivers of ecological failures.

This study finds evidence of eraasure across both texts. In the flood disaster report, erasure is primarily carried out through the void. Therefore, factors like deforestation, poor urban drainage are shielded from the text. This corroborates the position of Stibbe (2015) and Franklin, Gavins, and Mehl (2022) that media discourse about environmental crises give credence to symptoms over causes. Thus, reinforces reportage that places ecological damage as inevitable instead of preventable. This resonates with the pattern identified by Steffensen & Fill (2014); Agwuocha& Chukwu (2023) that government-initiated ecological reports foreground the agency of social institutions and background the drivers of the very problems they claim to address. Both reports sustain an anthropocentric worldview, although this is done through different registers as it is in the NDDC report, through the construction of nature as a resource to be managed for human benefit, and in the flooding report through the constitution of nature as an adversarial force against human survival. Neither of the text’s foregrounds what Stibbe (2015) terms an "ecosophic" perspective. This refers to a form of discourse that recognises the inherent value of other environmental entities and their interdependence with human in the ecosystem. This limitation has implications for ecological literacy and public environmental consciousness in Nigeria. 

7. Conclusion

This study analysed two news reports by Punch on flooding and environmental management in Nigeria. The aim is to investigate how the media frames and represent flooding and environmental challenges surrounding it in coastal communities in Nigeria. Using Stibbe's (2015) ecolinguistic framework and qualitative method, the study identifies anthropocentric, ecocentric and technocratic ideologies. It is revealed that while humans are represented and portrayed as victims of environmental and custodians of environmental management and sustainability. The analysis of the news reports under consideration further uncovers the erasure of industrial and destructive environmental practices that triggers flooding and other environmental crises. The study concludes that media reports should highlight how unsustainable environmental practices such as deforestation, unregulated oil drilling, poor drainage system and urban or regional planning cause floods and other environmental challenges. Such balanced reportage would enhance and promote eco-friendly practices and mitigate the effects of environmental mismanagement on Nigerians.

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