Business
NULGE Rejects 50% Wage Hike For Council Workers
The National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) has rejected the 50 per cent wage increase for workers in the 17 Local Government Areas of Plateau.
Mr Samson Mafuyai, state Chairman of NULGE, disclosed this in Jos.
He said the rejection was due to the state government’s inability to abide with the terms of earlier negotiations with the NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC).
Reports says that the two central labour unions have consequently issued a 21-day ultimatum to the government to pay the local government workers the national minimum wage of N18, 000.
In a letter dated April 10, 2012 and addressed to the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, the unions advised the government on compliance.
They urged it to ensure a full implementation of the national minimum wage to local government workers in the state.
The letter signed by the state chairmen of NLC and TUC, Mr Jibrin Bancir, and Austin Agbo respectively, said the ultimatum took effect from April 27 and would expire on May 17.
It reads in part: “It is unfortunate that you have not reacted nor implemented the provisions of our letter. It is expected that you will explore this leeway to avert the (industrial) action.”
Mafuyai said labour had agreed to 50 per cent increase in an earlier negotiation with the state.
He said this was on the condition that there would be a re-negotiation if allocations to the local governments improved.
“Now there has been an increase in the subventions of the local governments and the state government has kept quiet.
“This was even after the NLC and TUC had written to government and issued a 21-day ultimatum to the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs for a full implementation of the national minimum wage.
“This made us to go for a workers parliament, at which our workers supported the ultimatum for government to come to the negotiation table.
“Workers said they are not ready to take anything less than 100 per cent,’’ 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.
