Business
FG To Use PPP To Provide Basic Infrastructure
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says in Abuja that the Federal Government plans to use Public Private Partnership (PPP) to provide basic infrastructure to the people.
Osinbajo said this at the launch of the PPP Disclosure Web Portal sponsored by World Bank and the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC).
Represented by Sulieman Hassan, Minister of State, Power, Works and Housing, Osinbajo emphasised the role of the private sector in providing basic infrastructure in collaboration with government under PPP arrangement.
The PPP Disclosure Web Portal encourages proactive disclosure of contract agreement between government and its contractors on PPP projects.
The portal will make available to citizens and relevant stakeholders, information such as project title, type, government agency responsible, name of private concessionaire, contract sum and regular progress report on projects.
The Vice President said the provision of quality infrastructure remained a huge stumbling block to the country’s economic growth, hence the need to seek private sector intervention.
He added that “infrastructure is vital in the lives of our people. It will not only serve as catalyst for economic growth, but would accelerate employment generation and alleviate poverty.
“This administration is committed to exploring and using schemes necessary, especially PPPs to help achieve the level of infrastructure development needed in the country”.
“PPP has been a resounding success in other countries and this administration is determined to make necessary changes to make PPP successful in Nigeria.”
Osinbajo said Federal Government would do all in its power to create an enabling environment for PPP schemes to flourish and promised stable government policies as regards PPP arrangements.
He added that Nigeria had PPP commitments in transport, energy, housing and health sector and was looking to deepen further private sector commitments in these areas.
On the disclosure portal, he urged Ministries, Department and Agencies of Federal Government to proactively release and upload all information regarding PPP contracts they entered.
The acting Director-General, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Mr Chide Izuwah, said the country currently had 51 PPP contracts valued at about 3.2 trillion dollars.
He said that the figure represented the total private capital investment stake in the provision of public infrastructure.
He explained that ICRC had 77 PPP bankable projects at various stages of development.
“We have a dream that very soon Nigerians will take high speed trains from Sokoto to Bar Beach, Lagos, Tinapa in Calabar and holiday over the weekends.”
The Country Director, World Bank Nigeria, Mr Rachid Benmessaoud, said improved PPP disclosure would provide policy makers and other stakeholders with effective tool to track PPPs.
“The World Bank has carried out a disclosure diagnostic report in Nigeria.
“And from the findings, transparency and disclosure related reforms are being driven by top government echelons.”
“However, corruption and capacity in decision making continues to feature in public discourse and a culture of secrecy within government functioning remains a matter of concern.”
Banking/ Finance
Ripple Survey Reveals Appetite for Digital Assets
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.
