Business
National Carrier’ll Create Jobs, Boost Economy -Air travellers
A cross section of Nigerian air
travellers have hailed efforts by the present administration to re-establish a national carrier, saying that it will contribute substantially to job creation and economic growth and development .
Speaking with newsmen in separate interviews in Abuja the respondents said that having a national carrier would reposition the aviation industry to contribute to the nation’s economy.
Mr Lawrence Audu, a businessman, said that a national carrier was a necessity, stating that countries with viable national carriers, contribute substantially to their Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Audu said records had shown that in Africa, countries like Ethiopia, Kenya, Egypt and South Africa had derived so much from their aviation sector to boost their economies for decades.
He said it was a shame and a challenge for Nigeria not to be able to manage a national carrier, considering its position, population and potential in the continent.
Audu further said that the nation’s aviation sector could not achieve the needed growth and contribute substantially to the nation’s GDP, without a viable national carrier.
He, however, urged the Federal Government to also address the problem of infrastructural decay at the airports as well as ensure that the airspace was safe enough to accommodate more traffic.
According to him, establishing a national carrier will not only contribute to the economic development of Nigeria, it will also help to address some social issues such as unemployment in the country.
“A country like Nigeria cannot afford not to have a national carrier, because we cannot be giant for nothing; we must be giant in all areas and aviation is one major sector of the economy.
“National carrier is a necessity, because apart from contributing to the economy, the problem of unemployment, which is a serious social issue, can be addressed to some extent.
“Mind you, it is not about national carrier alone, provision and maintenance of infrastructure at the airports is key. Safety of the airspace is also paramount,” he said.
Another traveller, Mrs Edith Nduka, said that a national carrier conferred national prestige, noting that the defunct Nigerian Airways collapsed probably due to mismanagement.
Nduka observed that in different parts of the world, national carrier or flag carrier was accorded serious attention because it added impetus to the development and expansion of the country’s aviation sector.
She noted that the aviation industry was a major source of revenue for some countries’ economies, noting that a country like the Netherlands, depended heavily on aviation for its GDP.
According to her, Nigerians are the most travelled people in the world, travelling daily for business, study, medicals and even for tourism.
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.
