The African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate in the 2027 Lagos State governorship election Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, has raised concerns over the impact of migration on Nigerian families.
Rhodes-Vivour said many parents are becoming separated from their children and grandchildren as young Nigerians travel abroad in search of better opportunities.
NEWSNGR reports that he made the remarks while discussing the effects of migration and the challenges facing families in Nigeria on the Honest Bunch podcast.
According to him, some parents now wait several years before seeing their grandchildren because their children live abroad.
Rhodes-Vivour argued that the physical separation created by migration has changed the way many Nigerian families maintain relationships, with phone calls, video calls and messaging platforms increasingly serving as substitutes for regular physical contact.
The former Labour Party governorship candidate described such households as “WhatsApp families”.
He said, “People are now dying of loneliness because all their children have gone abroad to seek better life. Parents cannot even carry their grandkids for maybe 4-5yrs., if they’re lucky. So what we now have is WhatsApp families.”
In other news, Lagos State governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, stirred an uproar at the 2026 Independence Day edition of The Platform after attempting to answer a question about preserving the Yoruba language and culture in English.
The incident occurred during the event’s question-and-answer session, after a participant asked Rhodes-Vivour what he would do to preserve Yoruba culture, tradition, and language if eventually elected governor of Lagos State.
