Business
‘Inland Container Depots Begin Operation Soon’
L-R: President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Alhaji Remi Bello, Professor of International Law, University of Lagos, Prof. Akin Oyebode, Lagos SSG, Mr Tunji Bello and former Minister of Industry, Chief Nike Akande, at a dialogue on Nigeria Foreign Policy and International Trade Relations in Lagos, yesterday.
The Executive Secretary, Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Mr. Hassan Bello said on Wednesday in Lagos that the nation’s Inland Container Depots (ICDs) would begin operation soon.
Bello told reporters that the operation of the ICDs would go a long way in decongesting the access roads to the ports in Lagos as well as enhance cargo delivery.
He said that if 70 per cent of the cargo were taken off-dock for examination, they would be delivered at the door steps of their owners in time.
“If 70 per cent of the cargo in the ports is taken off-dock for examination, then there would not be congestion either at the ports – that is – at the terminals or the roads leading to them.
“This is because you would have taken the trucks off the road; you would have minimised human contact and the ocean economy that we have had in the seaports would be replicated in the hinterland where these ports are located.
“It is important to note that this would also reduce the transport cost; all the trucks from Kano, Funtua, Aba, Ibadan coming to Lagos to convey cargo would not come because they have already got their ports.
“This is bringing shipping to the door steps of internal shippers and reducing congestion and boosting the economy of those places where these ports are sited.“
The executive secretary said that Nigeria had an advantage in transit trade which had to do with the movement of cargo to neighbouring countries such as Republic of Niger and Chad.
According to him, the distance will further be shortened if people from Republic of Niger are to take their cargo from Funtua or Kano, instead of the Apapa port.
Bello said that the council was working closely with some state governments to ensure that the ICDs projects were completed.
“As a council, we have worked with various state governments where these inland ports are located.
“For example for the Kaduna Inland Ports, we have worked with Kaduna State Government on the improvement of the ports.
“Physical infrastructure and the general support and the Kaduna State Government has assisted tremendously in making the Kaduna dry port a reality.
“There are still some works to be done and we have started working with the new government to see that the purpose of which the inland port is situated is realised.
“Our work is to have oversight function over the ports – regulatory oversight in the sense that we are interested in the tariff. We are interested in the efficiency of these ports.
“These ports must be efficient. They must invest. That is, they have to have adequate equipment and business entrepreneurship for them to clear their cargo.
“It’s not just they are inland. We have to be weary of access to these ports and we are talking with state governments to have more access to these ports.
“We are also talking about the ease of doing business at these terminals and also the cost.“
He said that the council had already informed concessionaires of ICDs to be ready to put in place the needed logistics for the start of the projects.
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.
