Business
Cement Price Goes Up In Delta
Respite is yet to come to Delta residents on the issue of cement as the price of the product has again risen in major cities in the state.
The price of the building material, which remained at N1,650 a bag in August, has increased to N1,950.
The increase, an investigation revealed, was recorded in Sapele, Asaba, Agbor, Ughelli, Warri and other towns in the state.
Dangote and Elephant brands were most-affected.
Some cement dealers in Asaba attributed the increase in price to a major breakdown at Dangote cement factory and warehouse in Lagos.
One of the dealers, Mr Philip Okolie, said that the problem in the Lagos area operations of Dangote, a major supply point, had impacted greatly on the supply of cement in the country, especially in the southern part.
Mrs Chinwe Ofili, another cement dealer in the state capital, said that supply of the product had dropped significantly in the last two weeks as a result of the problem at Dangote facility.
She appealed to the Federal Government and Dangote company to ensure that cement supply and price problems were addressed as intended by President Goodkluck Jonathan.
Ofilis stated that everyone was happy when cement price came down after government’s intervention sometime in May “and we recorded high traffic of customers but the situation seems to be returning to hard times”.
The government had earlier in the year directed cement manufacturers and distributors to reduce the price of cement to make it affordable to most Nigerians.
The intervention brought temporary respite to cement users as the price which dropped to about N1,500 from more N2,300 a bag, soared again barely one month after.
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.