Business
Robotics: Experts Commends Lagos Govt. For Support To Technology
A robotics expert, Emem Ntat, on Tuesday commended the technological advancement initiatives of the Lagos State Government, urging it to include Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) studies in school’s curriculum.
Ntat, Business Development Manager of Arc Light Foundation, gave the commendation and advice while reviewing the World Robot Olympiad, Nigeria with newsmen in Lagos.
Two schools from Lagos State, Lagos State Model College Meiran and Araromi Ilogbo Junior Secondary, Oke Afo, emerged champions at the competition held at the School Hall of the British International School, Lekki in Lagos.
The Tide source reports that Arc Light Foundation collaborated with the British International School to stage the global science competition on July 15.
Arc light Foundation is the foremost robot developer in Nigeria, a company that also sponsors the development of science.
The foundation is the exclusive partner of LEGO in Nigeria and LEGO Education in West Africa and the organisers of the World Robots Olympiad, an annual event that draws participants from across the world.
LEGO Education organises a yearly challenge for the kids on how they can solve some problems on their own using robots made from LEGO plastic models.
By virtue of their performance at the keenly contested competition which tasked their creative intellect, the winners of the senior and junior categories will represent Nigeria at the World Robot Olympiad in Costa Rica later in the year.
The theme of this year’s competition is “Robots for Sustainability”.
Ntat said that Lagos State remained the trail blazers in its pursuit of technological advancement and support for the study of robotic sciences in public schools.
“I want to commend the Lagos State Government’s efforts in toward technological advancement in the country; it remains a trail blazer.
“Lagos is doing fantastically well in the promotion of robotic science, it is well ahead of other states in the country. The government is thinking ahead on how technology can be helpful.
“The state has the highest number of representatives in all the robotic competition and they did not shy away in their responsibilities.
“If Lagos State Government can be so helpful, other states should also borrow leaf, private organisation inclusive,” she said.
Ntat said that government needed to go a step further by including robotic studies in the school’s curriculum, a move which, she said, would be helpful.
“We want government to go a step further by including robotic studies in the school’s curriculum as this will be helpful.
“We need to train our kids right from the nursery to the undergraduate level, there are curriculums for this. Inclusion of robotic studies will make the students to have complete education.
“Nigerian students need to be at par with their counterparts in other parts of the world. We need to align with the global demands and needs.
“Nigeria is missing a lot because we have yet to fully embrace the technology as the mainstay of economic development,” she said.
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.
