Business
Senate To Strengthen Gas Flare Laws …Set to Punish Nigerian Accomplices
The Nigerian Senate has identified the fact that if Nigeria must meet up with the National Gas Flare-out Target of January 2030, it must have a working legislation, equipped with commensurate penalties for gas flaring offences in the nation.
The Senate has also made it clear that Nigerians who man the Petroleum Ministry and regulatory agencies are as much culpable to gas flaring offences as the multinational oil companies themselves.
These were part of issues raised at plenary, as the Senate considered a bill titled: Gas Flaring ( Prohibition and Punishment bill) 2016 sponsored by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Gas, Senator Bassey Albert Akpan.
The bill among others seeks to address the inadequacies of the 1979 Act; bring gas flare penalty in tune with current economic realities and ensure the achievement of the National Flare out Target of January 2030.
Sen Albert Bassey in his lead debate decried dangerous environmental and energy waste practices in the country’s petroleum industry.
Akpan noted that the flaring of natural gas was one of the most dangerous environmental and energy waste practices in the country’s petroleum industry.
He said that gas flaring had adverse effect on the environment and human health.
The lawmaker added that it had resulted in economic loss, deprived the Federal Government of tax revenues and trade opportunities and deprived consumers of clean and cheaper energy source.
His words: “Available data from the NNPC has shown that Nigeria lost billions in revenue last year. The volume of gas flared is sufficient to generate 3.5 megawatts of electricity. This is not to say the quantifiable social health and environmental impacts
‘It appears that the euphoria of oil discovery and commencement of production in 1958 blinded Nigerians as there was no provision to handle gas in association with the oil.
Government neither stipulated any law nor guidance during the nascent period of our oil production history
“All efforts to stop the flaring of natural gas has not been effective and Nigerians have remained the victims of lack of Gas Flaring Prohibition Act,” he said.
According to the lawmaker ,the bill when passed into law, would help to provide a strong legal framework for effective monitoring and regulation of gas activities in line with current realities.
He stressed that the bill sought to ensure achievement of the national flare out target of January 1, 2030 in line with the United Nations Charter.
In his contribution, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance, Sen. John Enoh, said it was disheartening that Nigeria was still battling with stopping gas flaring and called for the passage of the bill in order to put strict measures in place to tackle the problems posed by the flaring of gas.
“We remain an amazing country especially because since 1958 up till now, we are still talking about what to do about gas flaring. So we have to put in measures to make it expensive to flare gas,” he said.
Senator Ben Murray Bruce lamented that gas flaring has continued in Nigeria because the laws against the act are toothless and obnoxious.
Senator Bruce noted that the practice thrived because Nigerians who man the ministries and regulatory agencies are unpatriotic and either allow the foreign companies flare the gas while they look the other way or allow them evade substantial punishment.
His words, ” Nobody ever pays attention to these incompetent people who should be protecting Nigerians.
“I agree we go for the foreign companies because they are very irresponsible themselves but we must deal with the issue of Nigerians who are not patriotic. We must discuss the issue of punishing these Nigerians.”
Nneka Amaechi-Nnadi
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.
