Business
FG Tasks States On Infrastructure Dev
The Federal Government has called on the 36 State Governments to use Public Private Partnership (PPP) model to improve public service delivery and infrastructure in their respective states.
The acting Director-General, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Mr Chidi Izuwah, made this call in Abuja last Thursday at the launch of the 2018 Nigeria PPP Network (NPPPN).
The theme was “Accelerated Infrastructure Transformation for Sub-National Governments in Nigeria: the PPP Imperative”.
Izuwah said states could use PPP to deliver projects such as schools, hostels, state-of-the-art markets, bus terminals, hospitals, Agro processing and farm mechanisation, among others.
He said that the ICRC was already working with some states to develop PPP projects, that were economically viable to the country.
He cited the Lekki Deep Water ports, and the Ibom Deep Water ports as some of the projects that are currently being carried out in collaboration with the federal government, state government and private actors.
“The fastest way to accelerate economic growth in Nigeria is by developing infrastructure.
“ICRC is willing to make her in-house PPP technical expertise in PPP transactions available to states who are willing,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Director-General, Nigeria Governor’s Forum, Mr Assihana Okauru said PPP arrangement became attractive because of government’s depleting resources as a result of low oil revenues.
He said that in the last five years, federation revenues to States declined from N3.1 trillion in 2013 to N2 trillion in 2015 and N1.6 tillion in 2016, before recovering mildly to N21 trillion in 2017.
“According to World Bank, Nigeria has attracted about 10.5billion dollars in PPP investments since 2000.
“Much of these investments have been concentrated in ports infrastructure 7.2billion dollars, followed by Electricity 1.9 billion dollars and Natural Gas 679 million dollars.
“However, these investments have not spread evenly across the States,” he said.
Okauru said that the NPPPN provided an opportunity for States to better understand the mechanism of PPP, to make their business environment competitive and attractive for private sector investments.
“Although, a number of States are working to establish PPPs, our records show that only 15 states have established PPP laws to guide the funding model for public infrastructure projects and only about 11 states have PPP offices.
“This has had serious implications on the level of private capital and expertise and the sustainability of private sector investment across States,” he said.
Also, the Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, said the NPPPN was a brilliant collaborative effort between ICRC and state government.
Ahmed, who was represented by Mr Biodun Alibologe, Deputy Director, PPP department, Federal Ministry of Finance, said the Ministry was committed to properly address the country infrastructure challenges.
Also, in a goodwill message, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha, said the forum would strengthen the country infrstructure delivery frameworks to generate bankable PPP projects.
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.
