Business
NUPENG Tasks FG On Petrol Scarcity
The National Union of
Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) Eastern Zone has called on the Federal Government to take all necessary measures to ensure that the current scarcity of Petroleum Products in the country is resolved.
Chairman of NUPENG, Eastern Zone, Comrade Godwin Eruba who made the call in Port Harcourt in an interview with newsmen urged the government to look into allegations of non-issuance of licenses to marketers to enable them import the products into the country.
The NUPENG boss said, “If actually it is as a result of not issuing licenses to importers, let the federal government speed up the processes and issue licenses to the importers so that the situation could be brought back to normalcy.
He expressed dismay at the long queues at the filling stations and the sufferings associated with it being faced by Nigerians and maintained that the government should treat the situation with all urgency.
Eruba explained that with the current scarcity pushing the pump price from N97 to N140 per litre, the essence and aim of the deregulation has been defeated.
The rise in the pump price, he stressed is unacceptable to the union and remarked that the products being imported were already being subsidized and that with the current scarcity it has set Nigerians back to where they were as the price per litre has gone far above the official pump price.
Meanwhile, there is an improvement in the fuel scarcity situation in Port Harcourt city as more filling stations have supply and were selling to customers.
Our correspondent who monitored the situation over the weekend said though the long queues have not gone off the stations, more of the filling stations were selling.
But The Tide gathered that some of the filling stations were adjusting their pumps while some were selling above the official pump price of N97.
“You’ll go to some filling stations to buy fuel but, my brother, before you ply for few hours, the fuel is finished”, a taxi driver who said he suspected fraudulent adjustment of pump metres.
Chris Oluoh
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.