Business
Land Racketeering: Group Wants FCT Administration To Intervene
A group; the Housing Development Advocacy Network, has called on the Federal Capital Territory administration to provide details of existing approved layouts in the territory, in order to prevent land racketeering in the capital city.
The group noted that land racketeering was on the rise in the FCT and that the government needed to be aware of this to avoid losing investments.
Regardless of the high number of fake and political developers and land racketeers, there are also many genuine investors who wish to invest in the FCT, but are at risk from land racketeers, the group noted.
Executive Director of the advocacy group, Festus Adebayo, who made the call while speaking to journalists, further called on the FCT Minister to declare a state of emergency on land racketeering.
“The master plan of the FCT is in disarray. It requires surgical operation and the FCT minister must declare a state of emergency on the FCT urban planning system.
“So much damage has been done. The system is no more going in line with those who saw the vision of the FCT and gave the master plan.
“Firstly, there is no detailed information on existing approved layouts, resulting in fake layouts overlapping it.
“This information, if made public, would enable investors to know the right information that would save them from falling victim to land racketeers.” he said.
According to him, if there was inadequate information about the existing layout, the public would no longer fall victim to sharp practices resulting in demolition all the time in some areas.
“Some officials in government are supporting the business of those who are engaging in land racketeering and destroying the FCT master plan for selfish reasons, which is why the real estate sector in the nation’s capital is at a risk”, he explained.
Adebayo further explained that even with the suspension of the issuance of building plan approvals to area council plots, people were still erecting substandard buildings and the government was grossly losing revenue.
“Normally, before a demolition exercise is carried out, there has to be an order from the FCT urban and regional planning tribunal. However, the demolition is now at the discretion of the task force.
“Most demolitions are supposed to be followed by implementing a use or activity on the reclaimed land. However, nothing is done after demolition, hence after some time, the illegal activity gradually creeps back again. Other areas have been marked for action and nothing is being done about them. Almost 70 per cent of area council plots do not have building plan approvals”, 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.
