Business
Farming, Key To Tackling N’Delta Restiveness – Eradiri
The Special Adviser to the Sole Administrator of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NNDC) and immediate past Commissioner for Youths in Bayelsa State, Udens Eradiri, says farming is the only solution to restiveness in the Niger Delta.
He said that the Commission was putting everything together to partner with the Nigerian Young Farmers Network (NYFN) so that they can come in and develop the farming sector.
Eradiri who disclosed this on Monday, in an interview with airport correspondents, on arrival at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, said the present management of NDDC was working to change the narratives and reduce the rate of unemployment among youths.
“I just met with the Nigerian Young Farmers Network in Abuja. So, we are tieing a pact with them so that they can come in and help us develop the farming sector.
“They have a lot of network in fisheries, poultry, animal husbandry, cassava
plantation, oil palm processing and others.
“You can see that there are lots of oil palm trees everywhere. If we begin to set up mills and train people, we will be able to build capacity.
“The important thing is how do we train and engage our people. A lot of things are happening in the Niger Delta. Forensic audit is going on, but a lot of people are afraid of the result because their fingers are all stained, and that was why you see all the bickering that is going on”, he said.
Eradiri, who was also the former president of the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC), said NDDC has started to compile a data base to enable it have a data of how many people the commission has trained.
He said one of the cardinal programmes of NDDC is to build the capacity of young people, train and engage them, adding that the commission has been engaging companies like NLNG, Brass Fertilizer and a few other companies for that purpose.
“We have been meeting with them to know what their skills requirements are, so that we will train for those skills and have a pact with them in order to engage them”, Eradiri said.
By: Corlins Walter
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.
