Business
Collapsed Building In PH, Cause For Concern-NIOB Boss
The Chairman, Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB), Rivers State chapter, Akinola Bammeke, has said that the recent collapse of a seven-storey building under construction in Woji GRA in Port Harcourt, is a cause for serious concern as the unfortunate incident suggests that building collapse has become a recurring decimal across the nation in recent times.
Bammeke said that the situation calls for urgent steps to be taken to stop the trend.
He disclosed that so far, 15 bodies have been recovered from the rubbles while the search continues, adding that the mishap has changed the Yuletide mood in the state.
He recalled that Rivers State has between 2001 and 2017 recorded six cases of building collapse where close to 100 persons lost their lives.
“In 2001, a four-storey building under construction collapsed on the Abacha Road with three deaths recorded. In 2006, another four-storey building went down at the Elelenwo part of the state. In 2017, a three-storey building collapsed in Alakahia Community in Obio Akpor Local Government Area of the state. The building located along the NYSC Road, Alakahia, collapsed”, he said.
Bammeke and other building experts suggested that a number of factors were responsible for the collapse.
A civil engineer at the collapse site, Mr. Ebenezer Ogundipe, noted that the materials used for the collapsed building were quite in order, but the structural design was faulty, saying, “they used heavier rods where they should have used lighter ones and so that made areas that should have been lighter too heavy for the pillars to withstand”.
Some others attributed the collapse to the use of substandard materials and the soil type in the area.
Bammeke said, “we are deeply concerned with the current spate of building collapse across the country, we will be working with government agencies until we ascertain the remote and immediate cause of the collapse and bring culpable persons to book.”
By: Tonye Nria-Dappa
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.
