Business
SON Reassures On Fight Against Sub-Standard Tyres
The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), has said that the government would not relent in its efforts to rid the markets of products that were harmful to Nigerians.
Dr Joseph Odumodu, the Director-General of SON, said this when he met with the Ladipo Auto spare-parts dealers’ Central Executive Committee in Lagos.
Odumodu told the committee that the government would not tolerate the sale of sub-standard tyres nor would it allow its taskforce to be molested when carrying out its legitimate duty.
“Government has a responsibility to enforce the law because it cannot put the lives of Nigerians at risk by allowing products that can cause harm.
“For now, we are particular about tyres. Take the report of FRSC, for example, that over 65 per cent of road accidents are caused by sub-standard tyres.a
“We cannot continue to put the lives of Nigerians at risk.
“We are going to all markets across the country. We have been to Lagos, Ibadan, Onitsha, Enugu, and all markets will be visited,” he said.
The President of the Committee, Mr Iyke Animolu, said the committee was ready to collaborate with the organisation to regulate the influx of sub-standard tyres into the market.
“We, on behalf of the traders of Ladipo market, are promising that we will collaborate with the organisation to check the activities of the traders,” Animolu said.
He, however, appealed to SON to nib the importation of sub-standard tyres at the seaports.
“We cannot totally blame the traders, but the ports should be properly sanitised because if these goods are stopped at the ports, how will the traders get them.
“Our traders will be duly educated about this fight against sub-standard tyres and we promise to work with the organisation and the Federal Government,’’ he said.
Cornerstone of Financial Services
A survey of more than 1 000 global finance leaders undertaken by digital payment network Ripple shows that 72% of respondents believe they need to offer a digital asset solution to remain competitive.
According to Ripple, leaders from the banking, fintech, corporate and asset management sector have made it clear that the “digital asset revolution is happening now”.
“Digital assets are quickly becoming a cornerstone of financial services, underpinned by progressive regulation, growing interest from Tier-1 banks, a steady consumer shift from banks to fintech providers, and booming stablecoin adoption,” Ripple says.
The survey was conducted in early 2026 and the findings released in March.
Stablecoin Boon or Bane?
Ripple has experienced significant success in the stablecoin sector since launching its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin in 2024.
With a market cap of $1.56 billion, it is considered a major regulated player in the market.
No doubt the platform was pleased to learn through its own survey that financial leaders were most bullish about stablecoins.
Roughly three-quarters of respondents believed they could boost cash-flow efficiency and unlock trapped working capital.
Ripple noted that finance leaders were thinking about stablecoins as more than “just a new way to execute payments”; instead, they viewed them as effective tools for treasury management.
In March 2026, Ripple began testing a new trade finance model built around RLUSD in a bid to increase the speed of cross-border payments.
The pilot initiative, developed alongside supply chain finance company Unloq [https://unloq.com], is running on the XRP Ledger inside a testing framework developed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The Asian city-state is one of the platform’s biggest growth markets.
The idea behind the project is to see whether stablecoin-based settlement can streamline trade finance, too often hampered by reliance on intermediaries and slow reconciliation.
The only potential drawback is that if the initiative takes off, the Ripple to USD price could be negatively affected.
Ripple has always championed its native XRP token as a bridge asset, the “middleman” in the process of a financial institution turning dollars in the US into pounds in the UK, for example.
Ripple converts dollars into XRP and then back into pounds.
If RLUSD can do exactly the same thing, questions will be asked about XRP’s relevance.
That is a bridge Ripple will have to cross if it gets to that point.
Tokenisation Partners
Another interesting finding from Ripple’s survey is that most banks and asset managers are seeking tokenisation partners to help execute their strategies.
Some 89% of respondents said digital asset storage and custody were top priority. “Token servicing/lifecycle management also ranks highly for banks at 82%, while asset managers place greater emphasis on primary distribution at 80%,” Ripple found.
The survey also revealed that just more than half of fintechs and financial institutions want an infrastructure provider that can offer a “one-stop-shop solution”. This rose to 71% among corporate financial leaders.
Ripple attributes this to institutions and firms wanting uncomplicated, cohesive systems.
Infrastructure Rules
In its final analysis, Ripple says companies across the board are looking for partners and solutions that are “secure, compliant, battle-tested and that enable growth and execution”.
“The message is clear: infrastructure decisions made today will shape competitive positioning tomorrow.”
No surprise that this is precisely where Ripple is placing much of its focus.
