Business
‘Work On NDDC’s Permanent Headquarters In Advanced Stage’
The Executive Director, Projects, of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mr Samuel Adjogbe, has said that work on the new permanent headquarters of the commission has reached an advanced stage.
Adjogbe noted that work on the 13 – floor structure located at Eastern By-pass, Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital was slowed down due to funding challenge, expressing satisfaction that the pace has picked up following the transfer of the project to a new contractor.
The executive director, who made this known while inspecting the project last week, stated that the funding challenge has been addressed with the recent release of funds for the project.
According to him, “we are able to pay some money to the contractors and, hopefully, by next week, we will release more funds for the project”.
He expressed satisfaction with the quality of work done on the main building and other ancillary structures, comprising facilities such as medical centre, restaurant, bank and car parks, among others.
He said: “In terms of quality and safety, I am satisfied, but in terms of progress, we need to do more. We ought to have gone very far in the project by now were it not for financial constraints”.
He explained that the current NDDC Board decided to fast-track work on the project when it came on board in November 2016, adding that it was the reason for the release of money to inject a new lease of life into the project.
Adjogbe assured that the commission would provide the necessary support to ensure that project was completed in record time.
By: Tonye Nria-Dappa.
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.
