Business
Property Developers Lament Rising Cases Of Touting
Property developers in Rumuekini area in Obio/Akpor Local Government area of Rivers State have raised alarm over the surge in touting activities of youths in the area which has made things difficult for land owners to build structures on their land.
The Tide has gathered that some youths in Rumuekini area have organised themselves into groups that go from one location to another in search of those undertaking or about to start laying foundation with the intent to extort money from them, beyond the normal charges.
These youth groups it was gathered usually claim to be agents of representatives of either or both the local government council, Environmental Sanitation Authority and the state board of Internal Revenue, and with this they impose various amounts of money on their victims.
This scenario, The Tide gathered, has made things very difficult for intending plot developers to cope, which has resulted in some of them suspending or embarking on re-sale of their plots.
Narrating his ordeal to The Tide, one of the property developers who was recently confronted by these touts, ThankGod Amadi, said that he paid the necessary fees to both the community and the other government agencies with receipt.
According to ThankGod, who is also a pastor, these groups of youths even when receipts of various payment made to various agencies of government are often presented such are after ignored with the boys insisting on what must be paid again to them without which there will be no progress on the building project.
The worst and most annouying thing according to him, is that about four different groups will come one after another to make demand for payment with a threat to pull down or seize every tools that will be used for work.
To this end, he said that he had to contact the joint Task Force (JTF) who came in to raid hide-out of these touts, and that such move enabled him to carry on his project.
Also, one of the doctors with the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) name withheld who wanted to start his project had it put on hold for the same reasons after he had paid the sanitation, BIR and council, as well as settled with the community (both youth/CDC).
The medical practitioner wondered why things have turned out differently, as plot owners are made to pass through another set of huddles, even after paying the necessary fee to the community and the government agents.
Meanwhile, one of the youth leaders’ in Rumuekini Community, who is popularly known as young chief has said that the environmental sanitation and the council accredited some of the youths.
Colins Walter
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.