Business
NUPENG Confirms Massive Loading At Depots
The South-West Chairman of Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Mr Tayo Aboyeji has confirmed that massive loading of petrol was ongoing at different depots in Lagos.
Aboyeji made the confirmation in an interview with newsmen in Lagos, Monday assuring Nigerians that the current scarcity of fuel would end in the next two days.
According to the chairman: “I am glad to tell you that the product is now available and today, being Christmas holiday, tanker drivers are waiting to collect the product.
“Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is now making use of Major Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) tank farms to distribute petrol.
“This is to accelerate the product to different locations. As I am talking to you, our members are taking the product out of depots to filling stations across the country.
“To make it quicker, NNPC is also using Folawiyo depot, Aiteo and NIPCO depots and I can tell you that the rate at which loading is taking place now, the crisis will soon be over,” he said.
Atoyebi denied allegation of diversion of the product by his members, adding that such had not been reported to him.
“To the best of my knowledge no such cases have been reported to the union.
“It is not easy to divert the product because petroleum tankers loaded were being monitored to their destinations,” he said.
He urged Nigerians to desist from panic buying, adding that the product was now available.
“Nigerians should not result to panic buying now; petrol is available in depots unlike few days ago when the product was not available.
“The product will be in all filling stations in few day’s time, so buy only what you will use and stop hiding petrol in your house, it is dangerous,” he said.
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.
