Business
Experts Proffer Solutions To Building Collapse
Experts in the building industry have said that proper planning and solid foundation would go a long way in reducing the rate of building collapse in the country.
In an interview with our correspondent, some architects in Port Harcourt noted the remote causes of building collapse and the way forward for the building industry.
The managing partner of Block Base Engineering and Contracting Services Limited, Port Harcourt, Mr. Temple Nwichi noted that majority of house owners do not carry out soil test to determine the type of foundation before erecting the building of their choices on their property.
Nwichi who expressed worry over incessant building collapse in Nigeria said that the result of soil test “reviews the bearing capacity and suitable foundation to be carried by the builder.”
He also noted that the standard of building materials has been “lowered, adjusted and compromised compared to what it used to be in the past.”
“Property owners should erect the building they can afford. It is the finance available for a building that should count and not the type of building the owner dreams of.”
Another Architect, Mr Chima Nwodinma Noble of NOBECH Group, Port Harcourt, told The Tide that property owners in a bid to reduce cost, most times compel their builders to use sub-standard materials which have negative effects on the building.
Noble reiterated that whenever the integrity of a building is compromised, the building is bound to collapse, the time notwithstanding.
He said that many property owners also patronise quacks, knowing fully well that professionals would not compromise standards and risk the withdrawal of their certificates.
In his own contribution, Architect Samuel Effiong of Insight Visualization Company said building collapse is caused by “faulty design, negligence, incompetent personnel, extraordinary loads on buildings and corruption among other reasons.”
On the way forward, Effiong stressed the need for serious supervision and monitoring of construction activities by professional agencies.
He called for a review of existing building laws in the country to guide the standard code in the building industry, adding that professionals should maintain their integrity, especially when they work for ignorant clients.
“The building industry professional body should enforce control of building works in their localities as laid down by urban regional planning Decree 88 of 1992. Also, section 13 of national building code 2006,” he said.
“When buildings collapse, lives, time materials, finance and many other things are lost, so all hands should be on deck to reduce the rate of building collapse in the country,” 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.
