Business
Terminal Operator Insist On 24-hr Service At Ports
L-R: Former Chairman, Board of Directors, Financial Market Dealers Quotation (fmdq) Otc Plc, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, Group Managing Director, Uba Group,Phillip Oduoza, Director-General, Debt Management Office, Dr Abraham Nwankwo, Managing Director of fmdq, Bola Onadele Koko and Chief Executive Officer, Chapel Hill Advisory Partners Ltd, Bolaji Balogun, at the bond listing of the Federal Government on fmdq platform in Lagos, recently.
The Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN) has insisted that the ports should remain open for 24 hours, including weekends and public holidays, to eliminate congestion.
The Spokesman of STOAN, Mr Bolaji Akinola, stated this in a statement made available to newsmen in Lagos.
The statement said the concession agreement provided for 24-hour operation at the ports.
It explained that this was a position reinforced by a former Minister of Transport, Sen. Idris Umar, at a meeting he held with stakeholders on Sept. 27, 2013 at the Western Ports office of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) in Apapa, Lagos.
The statement said the meeting noted that all parties must turn up for cargo examination and delivery on weekends and public holidays.
“The NPA had also, at various times, reiterated the importance of weekend and public holiday operations at the ports.
“For example, on Oct. 2, 2013, the NPA issued a public statement to the effect that there were cargo clearance operations at the various terminals on Oct. 1,’’ STOAN Chairman, Mrs Vicky Haastrup said.
Haastrup said it was in the interest of the larger port community that the ports remained open every day for both ships and land side operations.
“The 24-hour operation provides the necessary spread, to eliminate congestion and unnecessary backlog of consignments inside the terminals.
“ It makes the ports a lot more efficient and is mandatory.
“The terminals are open for full operation on weekends and public holidays and many consignees take delivery of their cargo on such days.
“Traffic is lighter and the rush is not as bad as what you see on weekdays; so we urge those who are not taking advantage of these days to do so,’’ Haastrup said.
She added that since terminals were opened during weekends and public holidays, operators were bound to apply relevant charges.
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.
