Business
Registrar Explains High Survey Fees
The Registrar, Surveyors Council of Nigeria (SUCON), Mr Suleiman Hassan, has attributed the high fees charged by surveyors to the quality of their work.
Hassan told newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday that surveyors’ professional competency and experience make them highly expensive in the light of their numerous challenges.
He said that surveyors’ fees are always exorbitant in the construction industry because they are unwilling to compromise quality.
According to him, the end results of the services surveyors render to their clients more often than not encourage stakeholders in the construction industry to engage true professionals rather than quacks.
“The issue of charges depends on what you want to achieve, if you patronise a professional surveyor in view of the high charges you can always go back to him or her to ask questions.
“You are also sure if anything goes wrong there is always a place you can take him to, you can report him but if you patronise a quack the day he gives you your work plan he will leave that place, you won’t see him again.
“People that charge you higher are always ready to give you more; the issue of charges depends on how informed your client is.
“If I pay you small money it is for that service delivery you cannot come back to me later to either consult or ask questions and with this, you will find out that you have been short-changed.
He said that the council was doing its best to flush out quacks in the profession despite all the challenges, adding it will not rest on its oars until the menace of quackery has been brought under control.
The Tide source reports that land surveying in Lagos now costs as much as between N350, 000 and N650, 000 depending on location or site to be surveyed.
In Lagos Island, Eti-Osa, Ikeja and Papa, land surveying which used to cost N300, 000, is now going for N1million.
In Somolu, Alimoso, Mushin, Agege, Ibeju Lekki, Kosofe, Lagos Mainland, Amuwo Odofin Local Government Areas, where formerly pegged surveying cost of N180, 000 has now been hiked to N650, 000.
Hassan also identified paucity of fund as a major challenges hindering the effectiveness of the council to ensure physical monitoring and evaluation of its members and profession which is part of its mandate.
The registrar further said insufficient funding had limited the council’s ability to establish more zonal offices that will help in coordinating its activities.
“The major challenges facing the council are the issue of finances, because there are things that we need to do which proper funding has hindered us from doing.
“For example, we need to be on ground in every state to have our offices for effective monitoring, and effective evaluation of our members.
“We have offices in some states but it is not enough, we need more zonal offices,” he said.
The registrar said that the council was contemplating collaboration with other stakeholders to make sure registered surveyors adhere strictly to the code of conduct of the profession by doing the right things.
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.