Why politicians have continued to defect —Oyalowo, development economist

Executive Director, Finance of the Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Authority (OORBDA), Ayobami Oyalowo has said evolution of political parties grounded in ideology is capable of stemming the wave of defections by politicians in Nigeria.

Oyalowo, who is a development economist, bared his thoughts to the Nigerian Tribune on the wave of defections that involved some high-profile politicians, including members of the National Assembly lately.

He said while people have the constitutional rights of association, political parties should not comprise strange bedfellows who do not have shared values and principles.

Oyalowo noted that the trend in other climes is that parties are built on principles and unshakeable foundations.

“Moving from one party to another has never appealed to me as a person. While I admit that there should be freedom of association, I also understand that political parties ought to be built on some principles and unshakeable foundations.

In most countries of the world, we have leftists, rightists, centrists etc. Each of the political parties are firmly rooted in clear ideologies and basic principles that are associated with whatever political doctrine they subscribe to.

“In Nigeria on the other hand, lots of people see political parties merely as special purpose vehicles to attain political office and nothing more.

‘That is why there have been some grey areas and a lot of the ordinary people are confused as they cannot differentiate between the different political parties.

“I hope as our politics mature, our various political parties will become more ideological and focused on ideals that clearly separate one party from the other,” he said.

On the state of affairs in Nigeria in 2024, Oyalowo said events in the out-gone year should viewed in a holistic manner rather than on the negative impact of a particular policy of government alone.

His words: “You can’t pick just one because in an entire year, there were lot of challenges but one that struck me was during the Endbadgovernance protest.

“While I subscribe to the fact that Nigeria went through some tough economic challenges, I also think that some people who thrive in chaos saw it as an opportunity to destabilize a democratically elected government for their own selfish reasons.

“It was gladdening to see that Nigeria navigated that challenge successfully.

He also spoke on the economy saying the initial issues often associated with tough decisions are beginning to show signs of better days fort the country.

‘On the economic front, with the stabilising monetary policy, and the full deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry, we are seeing the positive impact of some of these policies and I dare say that it can only get better from here. Our local refineries are coming alive and newer ones will soon join the fray.

“I also hope to see more positives from the agricultural sector in order to ease our high food inflation. I wait to see what plans the federal ministry of agriculture has, in conjunction with the various state agriculture ministries.

All in all, 2024 ended on a much better trajectory and I can see the new year is poised to be much better as the various policies continue to bear fruits,” he added.

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