Speaking at the 7th anniversary lecture of Penpushing Media held in Abeokuta, Ogun State, he lamented the erosion of traditional values particularly among the Yoruba which placed premium on hard work as the antidote to hardship.
“Ise ni Ogun Ise,” meaning ‘Work is the antidote to poverty’. “If you’re a Yoruba man and you don’t have any job, either self-employed or working under someone, then you’re not living by our core values. There is no job too menial once it earns you money.”
The former ambassador also emphasized the need for functional local government administrations, rather than the current system that often limits their effectiveness.
He recalled the past when local governments were more effective and had departments like Public Works Department (PWD) that contributed to their functionality.
Isola stressed that the emphasis should be on the people, as leaders are a reflection of the society.
He noted that bad leadership is often a result of a flawed society, and addressing issues like illiteracy and poverty is crucial to good governance.
According to him "democracy in Nigeria will continue to face challenges until the issues of illiteracy and poverty are adequately addressed"
"We will not continuously do constitutional review , it has become a ritual now. The United States Constitution has been written for how many years ago, that means the constitution is still a work in progress documents. You should be able to sit down and look into all the issues that are necessary for the federal system to work very well, look at the Federating unit , we look that the sub national , and we look at the physical federalism, what kind of regular revenues you go to states, or should go to local government".
He pointed out that in advanced countries, democracy works because the basic needs of citizens are met, enabling them to make informed decisions and participate effectively in the democratic process.
“Like you know, in our younger days , local government was working. We had the PWD these are things that we should sit down look at and look at the resources that should be that we need to run the system".
"But like I always say, emphasis should be on the people. We have continuously been calling our leaders up. Leaders are just microcosm of the society. So if the people are bad, they will produce bad leadership"
Speaking on democracy in Nigeria, he posited that democracy will continue to have problems until certain issue are resolved which includes illiteracy and poverty.
