Business
Journalists Launch Insurance Scheme
The Vice President, Namadi Sambo has noted that recent developments in Nigeria have heightened concerns for insurance cover for journalists.
Sambo who spoke last Friday in Abuja at the inauguration of the insurance scheme for members of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), stated that the design had become imperative in view of the occupational hazards of journalism profession in the country.
“As professionals whose responsibility is to monitor governance and hold government accountable to the masses, as well as to educate and enlighten the society, journalists indeed are faced with occupational hazards that require insurance cover.
“Press freedom and freedom of speech are fundamental freedoms that must be guarded. Therefore, attacks on journalists and media equipment are crime against humanity and must not be condoned.
“Such attacks from all intents and purposes, pose serious threats to fundamental freedoms,” the Vice President declared.
According to him, the Federal Government is committed to ensuring the safety of journalists and the respect for freedom of expression and press freedom which are of paramount importance to democratic governance.
The Vice President however, appealed to all employers of journalists in the country, especially the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria and the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria to support the scheme to enable all journalists benefit.
He asked journalists to maintain the highest standard of professional ethics and provide truthful, fair, objective and comprehensive account of events and issues to the citizenry.
He said that such enlightenment was a precursor of justice and foundation of democratic governance.
Sambo reassured the nation and the international community that the Federal Government was committed to conducting free and fair elections in 2011.
He also asked journalists to support and assist the government in achieving that noble objective.
“It is a collective responsibility that all of us have to shoulder. We need the advocacy support of all Nigerians especially, the journalists to succeed,’’ he stressed.
Also speaking on the occasion, Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State announced a donation of N10 million in support of the NUJ Insurance Scheme.
He said his government would also pay one year premium of N6,750 per journalist almost the 200 registered journalists in the state.
The governor commended the initiative of the NUJ for introducing the insurance scheme for its members.
NUJ President, Alhaji Muhammed Garba, explained that the scheme would provide death benefit limit of N1.5 million for each registered member, while no medical examination is required.
According to him, the scheme accommodates a registered member up to the age of 65 and provides compensation to a named beneficiary.’’
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.
