Business
NDDC To Revive Rice Mills In Rivers, A’Ibom
The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), said on Wednesday that it would soon revive its rice processing plants at Elele Alimini in Rivers State and Mbiabet-Ikpe in Akwa Ibom State.
The NDDC Managing Director, Mr Nsima Ekere, disclosed this after inspecting the 180 tonnes per day facility at Elele Alimini.
According to him, the two rice mills will be revived with a combined capacity of 210 metric tonnes per day.
Ekere expressed displeasure with the non-utilisation of the Rivers rice mill which was completed in 2008.
He lamented that the firm engaged to run the facility allowed it to lie fallow for 10 years, which is “unconscionable” saying the situation will be redressed urgently.
“What is important is to get this facility up and running and stop the huge waste of government resources.
“We will negotiate with private investors and set the process rolling in the next couple of weeks,’’ he said.
The managing director said that the resuscitation of the two rice mills would encourage the local communities to grow more rice, and expand the agricultural value chain.
“You can’t put the kind of resources that NDDC committed to this project and then allow it to just lie waste.
“The wasting rice mill in Elele Alimini has the capacity to impact positively on the Nigerian economy, it could have created many jobs and increase the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“Nigeria as a nation is still importing a lot of rice and we spend billions of dollars importing food, yet we have a facility here that can actually help to reduce the amount we spend on food imports and we just leave it idle.
“Going forward, we will immediately go into partnership with the private sector to put this facility to use. We want to see that this mill is functional, so that we can begin to employ people.
“Hundreds of Nigerians will be gainfully employed, if we get this facility working and functional. Many others will be employed indirectly.
Ekere explained that re-activation of the rice mills would also encourage local farmers to produce more rice.
He said that the commission would develop ‘out-growers scheme’, to encourage members of the communities to grow more rice.
The MD promised that NDDC would provide seedlings and other technical support to encourage local farmers to increase their production, knowing that they would have a guaranteed market.
“Three months after they produce, their products will be bought and the economy in the rural communities will be positively affected and wealth will be created for the people. That is what we want to do.
“NDDC would do everything possible to ensure that farmers derive maximum benefits from the rice mills to guarantee massive cultivation and production of rice in the Niger Delta,’’ he said.
The NDDC boss assured that the contract terms for the operation of the rice mill would be reviewed because the contractor failed to perform.
“We will terminate the existing contract because the contractor evidently does not have the capacity to run the facility.
“What is important to me and the government is to get this facility to be functional so that we can put food on the tables of Nigerians,’’ Ekere explained.
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.
