Business
NUFBTE Threatens To Shut Down Food Sector Over Unfair Practices
National Union of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employees, (NUFBTE) has threatened to shut down the entire food and beverage sector, over alleged unfair labour practices by some employers in the industry.
President of the Union, Comrade Lateef Oyelekan, in his address during the union’s National Executive Meeting (NEC) in Asaba, lamented the anti-labour practices by management of International Distillers Plc, Ota, Ogun State, saying that the action of the company could trigger industrial arrest, which may degenerate into closure of the entire industry.
Comrade Oyelekan in his address made available to The Tide called on the employers association to call the company and others like it to order in a bid to avert major industrial unrest in the sector.
“We have some labour friendly employers who have in policies and practices, not only given some levels of motivation to our members, but also, full support to the union continues to grow from strength to strength”, he said.
Oyelekan continued that “some of the employers since the past one year that we set up the Solidarity Infinite Venture, have given full support to the venture by ensuring that their products are not in short supply”.
Ironically, he said, there is no gain saying the fact that there are anti-workers employers in the sector who do not wish the workers well, who are not better than the slave masters of old and who we are also publicly declaring the worst employers in the food and beverage sector.
“One of them is the Intercontinental Distillers Plc, Ota, Ogun State. The management of the company is number one workers’ enemy in the sector. We want to use this medium to sound a note of warning to the management and others like it to turn a new leaf and embrace positive industrial relations.
“We are also using this avenue to call on the employers’ federation to call this company and others like it to order because we will not hesitate to shut down the entire sector because of their anti-workers posture.
Oyelekan used this medium to urge President Goodluck Jonathan to provide conducive environment for industries to thrive, noting that many industries closed shop while others are struggling to remain afloat.
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.
