Business
NCS Tasks FG On Digital Dev
Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to prioritise digital development in the country during his next four-year tenure.
The Conferences’ Committee Chairman of NCS, Mr Jide Awe, made the appeal in Lagos, yesterday.
According to him, the fear of some government officials in adopting digital technology in their daily activities, which also has to do with how secured the technology is, has made technology a challenge for the country.
He added that prioritising digital technology in the country would give the sector enough room to be the alternative the country needed from oil and petroleum.
“We are expecting President Muhammadu Buhari to build on his existing achievements and progress in the Information and Communications Technology sector; even though we are not where we ought to be.
“He needs to give some direction to his administration on the need to prioritise digital development.
“It is not enough that they have been talking about finding an alternative to oil and petroleum. This is the time to look for an alternative in digital technology with a concrete action,” he said.
Awe said that digital technology was a means of being competitive and surviving as a nation.
According to him, as a nation, we do not have any choice anymore if we need to compete favourably with other climes.
He expressed concern about the plans the country had regarding smart technologies.
“We are talking about technology because really the basis of our technology is the human capital.
“We have the capacity to do this, the technologies are available but it is a challenge.
“Technology, being a challenge is because everyone ought to be embracing technology but some people are not yet technology-literate, have fear of technology because of security and also the issue of infrastructure in certain areas.
“Challenges should not stop one from moving forward; with proper planning accordingly, we will get there,” he said.
Awe also called on the government to invest in the youth and support youth innovations.
“Technology is something we have to live with and we do not need to fear something that is good for us.
“We need to get a better understanding of things, have a better plan, put security measures in place, because we cannot avoid something that can make us better just because we are afraid of it.
“Also is the political will. We need to have it because the capacity, human capital are available in Nigeria,” he said.
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.
