Business
MAN’s PH Study Centre Starts Full Academic Session, Soon
Full scale academic ac
tivities would soon take place at the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), Oron, Port Harcourt Study Centre in Rivers State.
This hint was dropped by a member of the Governing Board of the Institute, Hon Rueben Aggo in a telephone chat with The Tide correspondent in Port Harcourt on Wednesday.
Aggo disclosed that logistics and epileptic funding were the reasons behind the delay in normal academic session since the inauguration of the centre in Port Harcourt.
He said the academic programmes and schemes outlined by the Institute were second to none, as plans are being made to partner ship owners in Nigeria to allow the students have some practical training on board their ships.
According to him, the Institute offers studies in virtually all areas in maritime activities stressing that their graduates after acquiring the experience, had employment opportunities, in this lucratic business even with foreign vessels.
“Our students are the real mariners as our certificates are acceptable throughout the world in maritime sector”, the board member opined.
Aggo further said that the Federal Government should ensure that adequate fund was made available to the institute because, “It is one area that would add value to Nigerian’s participation in the activities of seafearing, freighting and other maritime activities that could help improve the academic prowers of Nigerians as well as create lucrative marine employment to the teeming unemployed youths of the country. He however, noted that despite the delay in normal classes at the Port Harcourt Study Centre of MAN, staff employed are still working while some students admitted were sent to Oron main centre for their studies. The board member hinted that inorder to ensure the full scale take-off of academic studies at the Port Harcourt Centre, some top management staff of the academy were expected in the state on facility tour next week to have a first hand knowledge on the readiness of the school.
It would be recalled that the institute in Port Harcourt was commissioned on April 4, 2014.
Collins Barasimeye
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.