Business
Street Hawker Escapes Death In PH
L-R: Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, Mrs Nwobia Daniel, Kaduna State Commissioner for Finance, Alhaji Samaila Aliyu, Accountant General of the Federation, Mr Jona Otunla and President, James Kayode Consulting Company, Mr James Naiyeju, at the National Treasury Retreat in Kaduna State recently.
A hawker, who gave
his name as Mr John Chibu had cause to thank his stars as he narrowly escaped being crushed by a speeding vehicle at Government Residential Area (GRA) junction in Port Harcourt, last Saturday.
Chibu, who hawks motor vehicle fire extinguishers along the ever busy Port Harcourt-Aba Expressway, rushed to cross the road to the GRA bus stop to service a customer who beckoned on him for his product.
In a bid to beat other would-be hawkers, he ran across the road without looking out for on-coming vehicles.
Unfortunately for him, a speeding Murano jeep which came in the opposite direction nearly crushed him even as the little contact it made left him sprawling on tarmac.
However, his fellow hawkers came to his rescue as the jeep sped ahead living him with minor injuries.
Some of the hawkers who spoke to our correspondent on the scene when reminded of the danger inherent in such business said the risk was worth it.
According to Kelechi Worlu who sells shoes which he claim to be made in Italy, “Although trading on the ever busy road was risky,” it was so far the only source of livelihood for most of them.
Reminded of an existing law forbidding street trading, the hawker who claimed innocence, however, said once in a while, some government officials come around to chase them away from the road.
On why they take the risk trailing moving vehicles to solicit for buyers, instead of staying off the road, Miss Joy Chinwendu who sells recharge cards said experienced has shown that if you stay away from the road, you might end up not making any sale for the day.
However, effort to speak with officials of the state Ministry of Urban Development was not successful, but a source which craved anonymity said the government was making effort to check the menace.
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.
