Business
Eid-el-kabir: Motorists Demand Regular Fuel Supply
Some motorists and passengers in Abuja on Saturday urged regular supply of petrol to ease vehicular movement before and during this week’s Eid-el-Kabir festival.
A cross-section of the motorists and passengers told our correspondent at the Jabi Central Motor Park that this would prevent transport fare increase during the festive period.
They said that past experiences had shown that a regular supply of petrol would prevent the increase in transport fare during the period.
The festival will take place on Friday, October 26 (the 10th of Dhul-Hijja) when pilgrims performing this year’s Hajj in Saudi Arabia must have descended from Mount Arafat.
The Vice-Chairman, Long Journey Bus Branch of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Mr Samuel Agbana, said he had observed a reduction in the queues at the filling stations.
“But government has to maintain the tempo of supplying the product to alleviate the present suffering of motorists and passengers and also prevent it from escalating during the festive period,’’ he said.
Agbana said the union’s members had done their part so far by not increasing transport fares in spite of having many of their drivers queueing for petrol at the filling stations.
Another member of the union, Mr Abdullahi Mohammed, said he and other drivers were however yet to feel the impact of the festival in the park as passengers were yet to travel for the festival.
He urged government to improve on the supply of petrol as passengers would begin to travel for the festival from next week.
“For now our vehicles are waiting for passengers. But I believe that by next week, the park will witness a high influx of passengers. I just hope that government will ensure a stable supply of fuel,’’ Mohammed said.
Some passengers also told our correspondent that they wanted government to redouble its efforts at ensuring a regular supply of petrol during the festive period.
Alhaji Usman Yinusa, a passenger who described Eid-el-Kabir as a big festival, said many Muslims normally celebrate it at their various family homes.
“It won’t be good if inadequate fuel hinders them from travelling home,’’ he said.
Yinusa also urged government to devise means of making fuel available at all times as its scarcity might affect activities during the period.
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.