Business
ERGP: FG Commits N300bn To Road Projects -Fashola
The Federal Government has committed a total sum of N300 billion for construction and reconstructions of various highways across the country under the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, ERGP, Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola has said.
Mr. Fashola, who disclosed this yesterday, while delivering his keynote address at the 4th Quadrennial Delegates Conference of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers Branch of NUPENG, in Abuja, said the nation’s highways are seriously attracting tremendous attention of the present administration unlike the previous regimes.
Besides, the minister has identified over-speeding by motorists as the highest cause of road crashes across the country, contrary to overwhelming belief that the poor state of the roads is the major culprit. He said the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, regularly avails him of statistics on road accidents.
The minister said,” What has changed under the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, ERGP, is that the Buhari Government has committed close to N300 Billion to roads, and funded about N260 Billion at a time when oil prices are manifestly below the 2015 figures.”
“If you think this is not important, let me remind you that in 2015, only N18 Billion was budgeted for all Nigerian roads in the Ministry of Works. Only N9 Billion was funded at the time, when Nigeria’s oil was selling at close to $100 per barrel,” he recalled.
Fashola in his address entitled, “Roads in Nigeria and the Impact of Petroleum Products Distribution”, stressed that the contributions of tanker drivers to the economy cannot be discountenanced.
He said had identified six priority areas in its road development agenda, including the ones that connect agricultural produce areas, those that lead to petroleum tank farms and depots, and comprehensive bridge repair programme, among others.
He disclosed that no state of the federation was left out in the roads development programme of the present government, putting the number of roads currently under construction nationwide at over 300, even as he stated that contractors had gone back to site on major road projects across the country.
The minister revealed that his ministry was on the verge of getting procurement for the reconstruction of the Apapa-Mile 2-Wharf road.
Admonishing tanker drivers to ensure safety on the roads by eschewing unhealthy traffic behaviours, including taking those things that ‘clear their eyes’ , the minister assured that his ministry was desirous of bequeathing better road network across the country.
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.
