Nifemi Babasanmi
Former Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has attributed high birth rates in rural communities to lack of electricity and limited recreational options.
Fayose made this known on Friday in Abuja during his inauguration as Chairman of the Board of the Rural Electrification Agency, REA.
Speaking after the ceremony, the former governor said darkness in many rural areas forces residents indoors early, leaving them with few alternatives for leisure.
“Why you don’t address this issue of electricity? The people at that level have no alternative attraction. Nothing else matters to them. After 7 o’clock, it gets dark there,”
Fayose said in a video shared by ARISE News on Saturday.
“Everybody is engaging their wives. And the population simply becomes double. The simple problem is because there is lack of electricity.”
According to him, access to power would extend daily activities, encourage nightlife and create other forms of recreation beyond the home.
“People go to bed early. Their mind is simply prepared that, well, if this is the only available recreation, let me remain here. But when we address this electricity, there will be nightlife. There will be recreation outside your wife,” he added.
Fayose was sworn in alongside other members of the REA governing board by the Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe.
Also inaugurated were Ahmadu Abubakar and Ilyasu Makinta as board members, three other non-executive directors, and Abba Aliyu as the agency’s Managing Director.
The REA is tasked with expanding electricity access to underserved and unserved communities across the country, a mandate Fayose said will be central under his leadership.
Health and development experts have long linked poor infrastructure, including electricity, to social outcomes in rural Nigeria. Advocates say reliable power can improve education, health services, small businesses and quality of life in communities.
