Business
Flyover Traders Kick Against Illegal Levies
The General Secretary of the Flyover Petty Traders Association, Port Harcourt, Mrs. Justina Ufot, has raised an alarm over the collection of table and space fees from them, on a yearly and weekly basis, without receipt.
Ufot who disclosed this in an exclusive interview with The Tide on Wednesday, lamented the negative effect of the collections on their small businesses.
She alleged that traders at the flyover park pay a mandatory N10,000 every year irrespective of the size of the space occupied.
Ufot also added that apart from this, they also pay the sum of N600 per week to enable them continue doing their business.
The petty traders’ boss who only identified those involved in the collections as land owners said they had no option but to comply.
According to The Tide investigations, the payment of the sum of N10,000 a year takes place at a makeshift office in the popular Ikoku market in Mile Two Diobu.
When The Tide visited the area, and made some inquiries, a visibly worried middle aged man explained that he was not competent to speak on the matter.
He, however, disclosed that the collections had blessings from above.
“Look, Mr. Pressman, those collections are not illegal because it is from above”, he claimed.
The Tide further gathered that the areas that are covered by these collections include, the flyover area, motor parks, including food vendors, amongst other.
However, another official of the association who asked not to be named claimed that the state governor during his electioneering campaigns promised to come to the aid of the traders, through empowerments.
The official expressed the hope that the governor would keep to his promise as, according to him the traders have made efforts to see the governor to no avail.
It could be recalled that few weeks ago, the state governor banned all forms of illegal collection of fees and taxes pending harmonization of such processes.
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.
