Business
Users Score PH Airport Low On Infrastructure
Stakeholders and users of the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, have expressed dissatisfaction with the current state of infrastructure at the airport.
They argued that the present management had not done well in terms of maintenance and management of infrastructure at the airport.
A member of the Accredited Car Hire Association of Nigeria, Mr Emmanuel Di-ke, said he was unhappy with the way things were going on at the airport.
He noted that despite high charges collected from members of the association, the management of the airport could not put in place good infrastructural facilities like toilet at the airport.
He said the association had taken up the matter of poor infrastructure with the airport manager on many occasions to no avail.
“Nothing seems to be working at the airport in spite of the huge amount each of us pay to the management”, he said.
Also decrying the state of infrastructure at the airport, a travel agent, Mr Francis Imoh, said the rate of potholes on the airport road and darkness that usually enveloped the airport at night were frightening, alleging that the airport management had failed to address the issue.
“We say this is an international airport, but just drive here in the night, you will ask yourself if this is an airport, not to talk about an international airport.
“Potholes are all over the place causing traffic, but the manager is seeing all these, and the only thing he could do was to pour asphalts on the road, which is quickly getting spoilt again.
“What are they using all the money being generated here to do? The tollgate, and all the charges, yet the manager will say that there is no money, and everything we have here is what previous managers had provided”, he said.
Meanwhile, a protocol officer with one of the multinational companies, Chris Anuba, has alleged that the present management of the airport seems to be after making money without giving infrastructure at the airport a priority.
“Up till now, the open field is where both men and women use as convenience, in an airport like this, and we have a management, collecting money everyday.
“They have just increased the charges for our ‘On-Duty-Card, and I know how much my company has paid for that, yet you still see the airport environment in this form. People have been complaining, but nothing has been done to address these issues”, he said.
By: Corlins Walter
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.
