Business
SON Tasks Manufacturers On Standard
The Director-General, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Mr Osita Aboloma, has warned manufacturers of products that have direct impact on safety and health of consumers against sharp practices to avoid disasters.
Aboloma gave the warning, yesterday in Ado Ekiti at a one-day sensitisation programme on “Importance of Metrology for Quality Assurance for stakeholders in the Southwest”.
The director-general, represented by SON Southwest Regional Coordinator, Mrs Tosan Akosile said the agency was worried at the increasing inconsistence in the measures and units used in evaluating products and services in the country.
“SON is deeply alarmed at this practice which has significantly reduced economic growth and integrity of services in the country,” he said.
He described metrology as a science of measurement which must not be ignored during any production process.
“Measurement is an important part of our everyday lives; the iron rod maker, the fuel dealer, the agro-produce farmer, the exporter, the gas distributor, the engineer on site, among others.
“All must all ensure that measurement of products and services are done accurately if they will deliver quality and value to the customers.
“Measurement has always been needed to facilitate trade. Business and commercial processes cannot be regarded to be fair and honest when the weights and measures are inappropriate,” Aboloma said.
An Expert, Mr Olalekan Omoniyi also delivered a lecture titled: “Importance of Metrology in Quality Assurance”.
He said that many of the nation’s products meant for export had often been rejected, largely because of inaccurate measurement, arising from lack of functional quality control policy.
According to him, history of metrology and measurement go pari passu and through such mechanism, consumers do not get cheated or harmed.
Omoniyi said that every form of manufactured product and other products needed metrology in order not to keep consumers in doubt about their safety.
“No business can be conducted unless each person is sure the other person is being fair and honest. Fair and honest trade needs accurate weights and measures,” he said.
Earlier, while welcoming the participants, the Head of SON in Ekiti, Mr Ayeni Feyisayo urged them to translate the knowledge gained into action in their various callings by imbibing the culture of correct measurement of their products.
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.
