Business
Baker Tasks FG On Training
A Port Harcourt-based
baker, Mr. Ibingo Sotonye has called on the federal government to extend its training programmes to bakers in Rivers State on the inclusion of 20 per cent cassava flour in bread production.
Sotonye, who made the appeal while speaking to our correspondent at the weekend, said since Rivers State was known for its high cassava production, it has “comparative” advantage on the production of bread.
Referring to the recent training of 140 master bakers from the North Central zone of the country on the roll-out training campaign facilitated by the federal government to drive the inclusion of 20 per cent cassava flour in bread making, the baker said Rivers bakers needed such support.
According to investigations by The Tide Business Correspondent, the two-day training which was held in Lafia, Nassarawa State, had 20 participants drawn from all the states in the North-Central zone.
The Tide gathered that the inclusion of the high quality cassava flour would reduce the cost of bread production while also putting an end to wheat importation which will in turn improve the quality of bread in the country.
Speaking at the event, the Assistant Chief Agriculture Officer, Root and Tuber Division, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mrs. Olajumoke Adewole, urged the participants to give the training the needed attention as the knowledge they stood to gain would boost the profitability of their businesses.
The initiative was appreciated as “a milestone towards self actualization,” by one of the beneficiaries, Mr. Mathew Olujede from Kogi who expressed satisfaction with the FG’s drive to complement their effort.
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.
