Business
Motorists Task FRSC On Rumuokoro Traffic
Motorists plying the
Rumuokoro/Airport axis of the Rivers State Capital, Port Harcourt, have called on the state command of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) to ensure that traders do not do their business on the road.
The motorists, who spoke with The Tide in Port Harcourt, Monday, blamed the heavy grid witnessed on that part of the state on activities of the traders.
They regretted that the traders have chosen to trade on the road rather than the open available space for them at the popular slaughter market.
A cab operator, Mr. Boniface Okoro, said the FRSC should see the development as part of their duties in the state. He alleged that the police and National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) were only there for their personal interest.
He said the police and NURTW at Rumuokoro slaughter cannot give any substantive reason why they could not get the traders off the road.
Others also pleaded with the state Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, to assign a special task force that will ensure free traffic flow in the area.
It would be recalled that traders at Rumokoro slaughter market have over the years been the reason behind the gridlock in that part of the state due to their insistence to do business on the road.
He said road safety business should not be tied to usage of seat belts, expired tyre check etc alone, but should also be extended to keeping business operators off the road.
Okoro noted that the danger associated with the road-trading was more than what non usage of seat belts can cause in a whole year.
According to him, if any vehicle with a faulty brake runs into people at the slaughter axis, more causalities would be recorded.
In his response, Mr Ige Tunde, said the slaughter market operators have defied all means to stop their practice at the road, that the FRSC may succeed as a professional body.
King Onunwor
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.