Business
Economic Summit: Minister Assures On ERGP Implementation
Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma has said that Federal Government was committed to the faithful implementation of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) 2017-2020.
ERGP was launched by President Muhammadu Buhari on April 5.
Udoma said this in Abuja at the opening of the 23rd Nigerian Economic Summit (NES) with the theme “Opportunities, Productivity and Employment; Actualising the ERGP’’
He said that so many Nigerians had expressed concern about whether the plan would be properly implemented, given Nigeria’s past record with previous plans.
“I appreciate these concerns. This Government is committed to the faithful implementation of the ERGP.
“It is for this reason that this year’s Summit is dedicated to the implementation of the ERGP.
“ We cannot and must not allow it to fail.
“At this Summit, we will be expecting the active participation of all the private sector persons gathered here in reviewing and strengthening our implementation strategies,’ the minister said.
Udoma said the summit would give an opportunity for the gathering of captains of industry and influential members of the private sector to contribute toward the effective implementation of the ERGP.
He said that the Federal Government would ensure that annual budgets align with the ERGP so that government spending would be driven by the plan.
The minister said that the government had set up a special implementation unit to ensure effective delivery of the Plan and had also engaged staff to drive the process.
“In the coming weeks, we will be running sector-focused Malaysian style labs.
“The labs are intended to bring all relevant stakeholders into weeks of intensive working sessions, to brainstorm on practical steps to overcoming identified challenges in the selected area.
“The central objective of the labs will be to bring in private capital to finance projects across the country.
“We will be inviting many of you to participate in these labs.
“ Some of the staff we have retained will be available in the course of the Summit to interact with you and give you more information on the proposed labs as well as all our implementation initiatives.
Also, Mr Kyari Bukar, Chairman of Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) said the summit had become a platform to discuss and understand economic policies in the country, for the past 23 years.
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.
