Business
Italian Firm, NNPC Move To Rehabilitate PH Refinery
The Italian oil giant, ENI International, will soon commence the rehabilitation and refurbishment of Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited (PHRC), Alesa-Eleme following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) with the oil company in Rome last Monday.
In a statement posted on its website and obtained by The Tide, the Italian oil company ENI said that the company through its subsidiaries, Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) and Nigerian Agip Exploration (NAE) were to promote new activities in Nigeria’s energy sector.
The statement added that the parties agreed to co-operate for the rehabilitation and enhancement of Port Harcourt Refinery, stressing that in the upstream sector, both parties agreed to intensify oil and gas production operations with an increased focus on exploration and development activities in the onshore, offshore and ultra deep water areas.
The MoU also stressed the basis for the assessment of the national electricity grid reliability and of most efficient renewable energy projects to secure energy accessibility in Nigeria’s most remote area.
The MoU further emphasized cooperation concerning power generation, access to energy to enhance the power generation capacity in Okpai IPP through the fast-track development of its Phase II to make it one of the largest combined cycle power plants in Africa.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and Chairman of the Board of the NNPC, Dr Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu signed on behalf of NNPC, while the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) ENI, Claudio Descalzi, signed on behalf of the oil giant company.
Philip Okparaji
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.
