Business
Motorists Task FG On Benin-Auchi-Okene Road
Motorists plying the Benin-Auchi-Okene Highway have urged the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on the busy highway.
Some of the motorists told newsmen on Saturday that the call became necessary owing to the situation of the road.
The motorists, who decried the loss of man-hour and human lives on the road linking the Southern and Northern parts of the country, said the highway had totally collapsed due to years of neglect.
Our source observed that motorists have completely abandoned the road and have resorted to taking longer alternative routes to connect from Edo Central to the Northern part of the country.
The motorists stressed that if nothing was done to urgently address the situation, the alternative routes which are also not in good condition may soon become unmotorable.
A motorist, Maxwel Idigie, who expressed concern, said drivers had no option other than to bear untold hardship to get to their destinations via the highway.
“We have never a time experienced a situation like this on the route.
“We complained when it was not even as bad as it is now, but as we speak, nobody uses that route again.
“For some time now, we have been taking longer routes to cut off those roads that have totally collapsed.
“Those going to Ekpoma, Auchi or North of the county go through Agbor Road to connect to Ugoneki and Ujogba and then to the road at Irrua in Esan Central Local Government Area of Edo,” he said.
According to him, same goes for motorists going to Sabongidda Ora, Afuze and Akoko-Edo that now links the communities through Ifon in Ondo State.
“It will interest you to know also that those going to Abuja also connect Okene through Igarra and Ososo in Akoko-Edo.
“This long and toutorous journey has not only greatly affected our income but also other associated inconveniences,” he said.
Also, Abel Osageduwa, a motorist, said the alternative routes were wearing off owing to its use by articulated vehicles that were not designed for the road.
Osageduwa, therefore, appealed to government to declare a state of emergency on the Benin-Auchi-Okene highway.
He said that the declaration would pave way for a solution to the problem.
“Last Friday, we spent over three hours on a particular spot near Ujogba because articulated vehicles that have rendered the road bad, got stuck on the bad spot on that alternative route.
“Friday was another trying time for us on that route; this would not have been if the major road was in order.
“The Ujogba road which was constructed by Oshiomhole’s government was not meant for heavy duty vehicles,” he said.
Another motorist, Andrew Momodu, appealed to the government to fix the highway, saying that the situation was compelling motorists to increase transport fare.
“We do not spend more now only on fuel, but also on the maintenance of our vehicles and it is a pity that commuters are the ones bearing the burden,” he said.
A commuter who simply identified herself as Nana, said that the cost of transportation to Auchi was hiked to N1500 from N1000 on Friday owing to traffic congestion that was experienced on the alternative route.
Our correspondent reports that Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo and members of the state legislature had recently under taken separate assessment tours of the Benin-Auchi-Okene highway.
They all condemned the state of the road and called on the Federal Government to urgently fix it.
It would be recalled also that Babatunde Fashola, the Minister of Works, Power and Housing, had said that remedial work on the highway would begin as soon as the rains subsided.
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.
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