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Flutterwave, Africa’s leading payments infrastructure company, today announced a strategic investment from Ripple, the leading provider of blockchain-based enterprise solutions for traditional and digital finance.

This partnership marks the definitive next phase of Flutterwave’s long-term stablecoin strategy, seamlessly connecting its existing cross-border settlement capabilities with enterprise-grade digital liquidity.

By anchoring this infrastructure in the heart of the continent, Flutterwave is empowering African businesses to bypass legacy frictions, ultimately bolstering Nigeria’s role as the primary hub for global digital asset trade and driving sustained economic resilience across the African continent.

The investment is a part of Flutterwave’s Series E fundraising, which values the company at $3.2 billion, reflecting deep institutional alignment with the company’s strong financial fundamentals and long-term value proposition.

This integration is the realization of a clear, multi-year roadmap that has already seen Flutterwave systematically integrate stablecoin-powered settlement, liquidity, and remittance rails. By embedding RLUSD into its core ecosystem, the company is finalizing a ‘stablecoin-first’ payment architecture that eliminates traditional bottlenecks.

This unified approach delivers a consistent, scalable, and compliant liquidity stack that transforms how African enterprises interact with global markets, effectively cementing a new way for digital money acceptance that is both borderless and locally grounded.

The strategic investment and partnership centers on a robust product integration designed to accelerate the adoption of digital asset infrastructure, bringing unprecedented speed, liquidity, and cost-efficiency to cross-border commerce throughout Africa.

The partnership is built on three core pillars: embedding RLUSD into Flutterwave’s payment rails and Send App remittance corridors as a primary settlement asset for high-volume channels; leveraging the XRP Ledger (XRPL) for faster transaction clearing; and deploying a unified API to seamlessly bridge Flutterwave’s domestic network with Ripple Payments, Ripple’s global payments network.

By merging traditional fiat payment methods, including local cards, mobile wallets, and bank transfers, with Ripple’s enterprise blockchain technology, the partnership eliminates the historical friction points of African cross-border payments, such as multi-day delays and inflated FX margins. Instead, businesses will experience guaranteed liquidity, predictable pricing, and real-time settlement.

“Flutterwave has built one of the most advanced payments networks in Africa, and as its infrastructure evolves, stablecoins are becoming central to that story,” said Reece Merrick, Managing Director, MEA at Ripple.

“Our investment will establish RLUSD within that infrastructure, with Flutterwave driving stablecoin flows over the XRPL and deepening its role as a settlement layer for real-world payments across the continent. Together we also plan to bring Ripple Payments’ speed and efficiency to cross-border transactions in the region, opening up faster, lower-cost financial services to businesses and consumers at scale.”

Olugbenga “GB” Agboola, Founder and CEO of Flutterwave, added: “This investment marks a pivotal moment in our journey, enabling us to significantly scale our infrastructure and expand our stablecoin-enabled payments roadmap.

“By unlocking faster settlement and lower-cost cross-border payments, we are building a payment superhighway that connects African commerce directly to the global economy. This partnership is a catalyst for Nigerian and African sovereignty in the digital financial age, ensuring our markets are primary participants in the global digital asset revolution.”

With this capital and a deepened product alliance, Flutterwave will accelerate its goal to bridge traditional financial systems with next-generation digital asset infrastructure. Building on its established scale – having raised over US$500m and processed over a billion transactions worth over US$50bn – Flutterwave is positioned to unlock massive economic potential for small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) and global enterprises operating across Africa.

Ripple joins Flutterwave’s Series E with strategic investment to accelerate African stablecoin payments

The Delta State government has reminded private school owners across the state of the outright ban on graduation parties and all associated end-of-session celebrations.

It maintained that any institution found flouting the directive will face severe penalties, including a potential five-year closure.

The reminder follows the recent discovery that school administrators across the state have reportedly begun notifying parents and staff of the end-of-session activities now fast approaching.

The Delta State government had, in September 2025, announced the ban on lavish graduation parties in private schools, describing the trend as an “unnecessary financial burden” on families.

The then Commissioner for Secondary Education, Mrs Rose Ezewu, had said the ban was consistent with the state government’s long-standing position.

Massively supporting the ban, stakeholders have noted that the policy aims to make schooling more affordable, enforce minimum standards, and shift the focus back to academic achievement rather than costly social events.

Recently, a message was circulated among school proprietors and administrators, purportedly originating from the office of the Commissioner for Secondary Education.

The notice explicitly warned that “graduation parties or whatever name they are tagged” are prohibited in Delta, and that offending schools risk a five-year ban.

While some initially dismissed the message as fake, a school proprietress in the Sapele local government area (who asked not to be named) confirmed that the policy is genuine.

She told our reporter that the local Chief Inspector of Education, CIE, had previously communicated the ban to schools, adding that the latest notice merely reinforces existing rules.

Ezewu warned that schools imposing special graduation levies or organising extravagant ceremonies would face sanctions.

Authorities have previously signalled plans to tighten regulations on private schools more broadly, targeting frequent changes of textbooks, multiple sets of school uniforms, and other hidden charges that push up the cost of education and place undue pressure on parents.

Parents are advised to clarify any planned celebrations with school heads well in advance.

Delta govt reinforces ban against graduation parties, warns school heads of consequences

The Senate Public Accounts Committee, SPAC, on Tuesday vacated a N62.2 billion under-remittance query against the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, in the 2019 audit report by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation, OAuGF.

The committee, in an investigative session with Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, also resolved to set up a small committee to reconcile the remaining 76 queries raised against the Service in the 2019 and 2020 audit reports. 

The session focused on the first 77 queries on alleged financial infractions against Customs. 

Representative of the Auditor-General, as directed by SPAC Chairman, Senator Ibrahim Dankwabo (Gombe North), read Query 1: That in 2017, while N691.242 billion was Customs’ total revenue collection, only N629.23 billion was remitted, leaving a balance of N62.2 billion allegedly unremitted into the Federation Account.

Responding, Adeniyi said the N62.2 billion classified as “unremitted” was wrongly arrived at due to misclassification of levies collected on behalf of other agencies.

“The under-remittance of N62.2 billion levelled against Customs in the 2019 audit report was wrongly arrived at through misclassification of levies collected¡.

“While most levies are to be collected and remitted into the Federation Account, others like those on local production of wheat, textiles and wines, etc, do not go into the Federation Account. The totality of these accounted for the alleged unremitted N62.2 billion,” the Customs boss explained.

The committee accepted the explanation and cleared Customs of the N62.2 billion query.

Adeniyi gave similar clarifications on Queries 2 and 3, which also satisfied the committee.

Reacting, Senator Babangida Hussaini, representing Jigawa North West, questioned why Customs allowed the queries to reach the investigative stage.

“I was in the civil service, just like the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Ibrahim Dankwabo, before venturing into politics. Queries 1, 2 and 3 that you have responded to, should have been trashed out at the reconciliation level with the auditors and not allowed to get to this stage,” Hussaini said.

Adeniyi, however, reminded the committee that the years under review were a period of frosty relations between the Senate and the Nigeria Customs Service.

On the strength of the Customs’ explanations, SPAC resolved to set up a small committee to meet with the Service for reconciliation of issues raised in the remaining 74 queries.

The committee said the reconciliation panel will fast-track resolution of the outstanding audit queries without further delay.

Audit report: Senate clears Customs of N62.2bn under-remittance query

Arsenal are interested in signing Elijah Upson after he decided to leave Tottenham Hotspur, The Athletic reports.

Upson has turned down a pro deal and will leave Tottenham at the end of the month when his scholarship terms expire.

The 18-year-old centre-back is the son of former Arsenal defender Matthew Upson.

Arsenal is one of those tracking the youngster, who is understood to be attracting interest from several other clubs.

The Premier League North London club is keen to bolster its academy sides this summer by recruiting young talent.

However, it’s yet to be seen if Upson will end up joining Arsenal this summer.

Upson has been part of the Tottenham Under-18 side for the past two seasons.

He played in Premier League 2, U18 Premier League, UEFA Youth League, FA Youth Cup and the EFL Trophy.

Transfer: Arsenal to sign Elijah Upson

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has ordered a stay of execution of the judgment that directed the Independent National Electoral Commission to deregister the African Democratic Congress and four other political parties.

In a unanimous decision on Tuesday, a three-member panel led by Justice A. B. Mohammed condemned Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja for flouting a May 22 order that directed him to suspend proceedings before him, describing his conduct as the gravest form of judicial misconduct.

“The decision of the lower court to proceed with the judgment despite the express order of this court is a brazen violation of the hierarchy of the court and the 1999 Constitution,” the panel held.

The appellate court went further, invoking a Supreme Court precedent to characterise Justice Lifu’s conduct in the harshest terms available to it.

“The decision of the lower court to proceed with the judgment despite the express order of this court is the highest form of judicial impertinence,” the panel declared, adding that the Supreme Court had previously held that a judge who acted in such a manner “is unfit for the bench as it amounts to judicial rascality.”

The court said it had a duty to assert its supervisory authority over lower courts and protect the integrity of the judicial hierarchy.

“Courts are enjoined to protect their integrity. 

This court has supervisory authority over the trial court. This court has the duty to invoke its powers in ensuring that its orders are obeyed. The application for stay of execution is hereby granted. The enforcement of the judgment is stayed,” the panel ruled.

Earlier in the proceedings, INEC told the court it was stunned by Justice Lifu’s decision to deliver the judgment, disclosing that the commission only learned of the ruling through media reports rather than any official notification.

INEC’s lead counsel, Mr Haliru Mohammed, told the panel that the commission had been aware of the appellate court’s May 22 order restraining the lower court from delivering the judgment, which had originally been reserved for June 5.

“We were not aware of any notice from the court regarding the delivery of the judgment. We only saw it as breaking news in the media. We therefore do not oppose the application of the appellant to stay the execution of the judgment,” Mohammed submitted.

The commission also aligned itself with the notice of appeal filed by the affected political parties.

Counsel for the ADC, Mr Shuaibu Aruwa, SAN, told the court that Justice Lifu communicated the judgment’s delivery to the party via WhatsApp, a disclosure that drew visible reactions from the bench.

Aruwa described the lower court’s conduct as an invitation to anarchy and urged the appellate court to invoke its disciplinary jurisdiction under Section 6 of the 1999 Constitution to sanction the judge.

“The action of the trial judge calls for swift and extraordinary measures from this court. We have come to the stage where this court should press the reset button,” Aruwa submitted.

“We urge this court to take disciplinary steps by immediately suspending that judgment. This court has the power to protect its own integrity. We pray this court suspends the judgment immediately without further delay,” he added.

The other affected parties also drew the panel’s attention to the June 20 by-elections scheduled across six states, warning that allowing the judgment to stand would trigger serious electoral and constitutional crises nationwide.

The Federal High Court had ordered INEC to deregister the ADC alongside the Action Peoples Party, Action Alliance, Accord Party and Zenith Labour Party, holding that the five parties failed to meet the constitutional requirements for continued existence and participation in future elections.

With Tuesday’s appellate court order, the five parties remain registered pending the determination of their appeals.

American rapper and singer Jason Bradley DeFord, popularly known as Jelly Roll, has parted ways with his wife, Bunnie Xo. According to court records obtained by E! News, the duo, who tied the knot in August 2016, filed for divorce on May 18 in Tennessee. Although neither party has publicly commented on the split, Bunnie […]

The post Jelly Roll, Bunnie divorce after nearly 10 years together appeared first on Tribune Online.

Former Manchester United manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer could be set to return to the Premier League this summer.

As reported by the BBC, Solskjaer, who last coached Beşiktaş, is one of the leading candidates on the Ipswich Town list to replace Kieran McKenna.

The 53-year-old was overlooked for a return to Old Trafford last season as the Red Devils opted to appoint Michael Carrick as permanent manager.

Interestingly, McKenna was on Solskjaer’s coaching staff at Man United alongside Carrick between 2018 and 2021.

The coaching team guided United to a runner-up finish in the 2020-2021 season.

McKenna initially stayed at Old Trafford following Solskjaer’s sacking but subsequently left to take the Ipswich job in December 2021.

EPL: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in shock return to coach Man Utd rivals

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Apapa Area Command, on Tuesday announced that it intercepted 1.81 tonnes of hard drugs and expired pharmaceutical products worth N12.7bn at the Apapa Port in Lagos. In a statement released by the Command Spokesman, Isah Sulaiman, the interception was carried out in collaboration with the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency […]

The post Customs intercepts N12.7bn hard drugs, expired pharmaceuticals at Apapa Port appeared first on Tribune Online.

According to records from the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), Combs, who is serving a 50-month federal prison sentence at FCI Fort Dix in New Jersey, is now scheduled to be released on…

The post Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs gets new prison release date appeared first on Tribune Online.

Suspected serial killer in Ibadan, Sunday Sodipe, and over 100 other inmates of the Agodi Correctional Centre have graduated from the School Transformation Programme (STP) and The Prison Journey (TPJ) courses organised by the Prison Fellowship Nigeria (PFN), Oyo State chapter. Sodipe was a prime suspect in a string of ritual killings in the Akinyele […]

The post Suspected serial killer, other Agodi inmates graduate from PFN’s STP/TPJ courses appeared first on Tribune Online.