Business
Aviation College Acquires Trainer Airplane
For better training of pilots, the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) Zaria, will take delivery of a brand new TBN 850 trainer airplane for N700 million and a multi-engine simulator valued at N98.5 million.
The two equipment are expected to land in the college before the year winds up.
The Aviation Minister, Babatunde Omotoba, said the college is expected to receive N2.5 billion as allocation from the Federal Government.
Omotoba added that the $10 million out of the $46.6 million World Bank grant would be given to NCAT to address its infrastructural challenges and enhance its curriculum.
He stated that NCAT would before the end of the year, acquire a multi-purpose simulator to boost training.
“The contract for the airplane is currently awaiting the approval of the Ministerial Tender’s Board (MTB). Once they’re through, I’ll ratify their decision. The TBN 850 airplane that we’re purchasing is costing about N700 million. It’s in this year’s budget and it has been there for quite sometime. Now we have done our due diligence and pushed it to Due process and they’ve given us a certificate. Right now, we’re putting together a memo we’re taking to the Federal Executive Council.
I was opportuned to meet the manufacturer of the airplane in France for the air show.
It should be delivered this year. The multi-engine simulator is valued at N98.5 million and it will help reduce training duration and cost,” he explained.
Omotoba also revealed that the World Bank is assisting NCAT in repairing its three simulators that have been unserviceable for a long time.
“More so, the runway of NCAT does not have airfield lighting and that is one of the things we’re going to be completing before the end of this year.”
We’re also acquiring a new Very-high Omini-directional radio Range (VOR) as well as Instrument Landing System (ILS). By the time all these are fixed, all the trainings will be done in this place and not taking the students out to other airports like Kano and Kaduna for instrument and night flight”, he stated.
Also speaking during the visit, the Rector/Chief Executive of NCAT, Capt. Adebayo Araba, disclosed that the part of challenges of the school is the encroachment of neighbouring villagers, stressing that the issue requires government intervention.
He added that all efforts by the NCAT management to check the encroachment proved abortive, adding: “We just had to give it up. We reported the matter to the Kaduna State government since they are the people that issue them the Certificate of Occupancy (CofO).
If we say we want to erect a fence, they’ll surely pull it down. We’ve done that a couple of times and that was what we got, so we simply left it like that. Besides, if we say we want to erect something very strong to prevent encroachment, the reaction, I can assure you will be very severe, that much I know”, he said.
He revealed that the college is on the verge commencing helicopter training before the first quarter of next year.
Also speaking during the minister’s visit, the Head of Aviation Management School of NCAT, Engr. A. A. Onipede mooted that the college, in collaboration with some notable institutions, will commence awarding degrees in aviation management.
Rivers State Commissioner for Finance, Hon George Feyii (2nd right) and other members of ICAN, during a courtesy call, recently.
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.