Business
FG Records Over 200 Cases Of Pipeline Vandalism – Nebo
Rivers State Head of Service, Barr Samuel LongJohn (middle), addressing newly appointed Permanent Secretaries in Port Harcourt, recently . With him are Emmanuel Urang (left) and Mr Lambert Ekwueme.
Prof. Chinedu Nebo, the Minister of Power, has said that over 200 cases of gas pipelines vandalism were recorded in 2014.
Nebo disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja at a news conference on gas infrastructure vandalism in the country.
He said that in December 2014, the power sector lost 1,000 megawatts to activities of vandals.
The minister said that activities of vandals were aimed at frustrating the efforts of President Goodluck Jonathan to provide electricity to Nigerians.
He called on Nigerians to cooperate with government in the fight against vandalism.
“This is a call to all citizens to protect these assets as they belong to all Nigerians.
“Whenever you notice these vandals carrying out their work, please report to the security agents.
“This is something all of us must work together to stop, “he said.
Nebo said that the ministry was working tirelessly with the office of the National Security Adviser and security agencies to check the activities of vandals in the country.
“Mr President has ensured that enough resources were deployed to the fight against pipelines vandalism,“he said.
He noted that vandalism remained a threat to power supply to Nigerians.
Nebo stressed that there was no justifiable individual benefit to gas pipeline vandalism other than sabotage.
He attributed the significant economic loss and insufficient power supply in the country to gas infrastructure vandalism and crude oil theft.
The minister said that 81 per cent of power in the country was generated by thermal plants dependent on gas supply.
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Power, Dr Godknows Igali, said that security agents were doing their best to check pipeline vandalism.
He noted that the power sector had recorded successes since the reform began in 2010.
The high point of the occasion was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Federal Government and NANS, Youth organisations and some NGOs, to fight pipeline vandalism.
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.
