The newly inaugurated Chairman of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) Governing Board, Ayodele Fayose, has sparked a viral national debate after tying Nigeria’s rural population surge directly to widespread blackouts and an absence of nighttime entertainment.
The former Ekiti State Governor made the unorthodox remarks in Abuja following his official swearing-in ceremony administered by the Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe.
“Darkness Forces Early Bedtimes”
Fayose argued that pitch-black evenings leave off-grid and underserved communities completely starved of social or economic alternatives after nightfall, inadvertently driving up birth rates.
According to Fayose, the solution to subnational overpopulation lies in providing basic grid infrastructure to alter evening habits.
He stated:
“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. Everybody is engaging their wives, and the population simply becomes double. The simple problem is because there is lack of electricity.”
He further elaborated that early bedtimes prime the minds of residents to view procreation as the only available nocturnal option.
“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.”
The Mandate Ahead
The controversial commentary comes as Fayose assumes political leadership over the REA, a federal agency legally mandated to expand sustainable energy access across Nigeria’s most remote, unserved zones.
President Bola Tinubu appointed the former governor to the post alongside board members Ahmadu Abubakar and Ilyasu Makinta. Addressing his new mission, Fayose pledged to bring the necessary political will to secure extensive funding so the agency can successfully execute its short- and long-term rural development goals
