Business
Oyigbo Youth Take Over Electricity Sub-Station …Hold PHED Staff Hostage
Electricity users that are getting their source of power supply from Kom- Kom Injection Sub-Station located inside Oyigbo Local Government Area, Rivers State may have been forcefully denied electricity as youths from Oyigbo took over the injection station at the weekend.
The denial of power supply to the residents and business outfits in the area was not unconnected with action of the Oyigbo Urban Youth Association which took over the Injection substation, forced the operators on duty to switch on their feeder that was at that time out of supply due to routine maintenance.
Sources informed The Tide that it was an act of fate that at the time the feeder was forcefully switched on, the technical crew was few minutes away from carrying out the maintenance job, otherwise the story would have been different.
The Tide gathered that the youths were still not satisfied after they switched on the feeder, as the two operators on duty were made to sit on the floor, held hostage, their phones taken away and, as at the time of filing this report, all attempts made by Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHED) to set them free had not yielded positive result even as the rampaging protesters were still threatening fire and brimstone.
When contacted, the Corporate Communication Manager, John Onyi confirmed the incident and said PHED had made an official report to the police.
Onyi regretted the action of the youth in Oyigbo Urban and said the frequent harrasement of staff of the distribution firm is becoming barbaric and unnecessary.
He informed that on 28th January, 2018, the same association blocked PHED office in Oyigbo with fetish items, including casket, simply because of load shedding of their feeder.
According to him, “You may have the right to protest if you feel aggrieved with the service delivery but not to take the operations of an injection substation on high voltage with total disregard to safety of lives and property.”
“The Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHED), is therefore calling on opinion leaders in the area to wade in and restrain their children from taking laws into their hands.”
Onyi, who assured that PHED will continue to engage its customers to foster collective growth through the provision of safe electricity to customers, however said it must be noted that electricity supply is not free.
The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) has said that Bank Verification Number (BVN) enrolments rose by 6.8 per cent year-on-year to 67.8 million as at December 2025, up from 63.5 million recorded in the corresponding period of 2024.
In a statement published on its website, NIBSS attributed the growth to stronger policy enforcement by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the expansion of diaspora enrolment initiatives.
NIBSS noted that the expansion reinforces the BVN system’s central role in Nigeria’s financial inclusion drive and digital identity framework.
Another major driver, the statement said, was the rollout of the Non-Resident Bank Verification Number (NRBVN) initiative, which allows Nigerians in the diaspora to obtain a BVN remotely without physical presence in the country.
A five-year analysis by NIBSS showed consistent growth in BVN enrolments, rising from 51.9 million in 2021 to 56.0 million in 2022, 60.1 million in 2023, 63.5 million in 2024 and 67.8 million by December 2025. The steady increase reflects stronger compliance with biometric identity requirements and improved coverage of the national banking identity system.
However, NIBSS noted that BVN enrolments still lag the total number of active bank accounts, which exceeded 320 million as of March 2025.
The gap, it explained, is largely due to multiple bank accounts linked to single BVNs, as well as customers yet to complete enrolment, despite the progress recorded.