Business
Yar ‘Adua Approves New Guidelines For Ecological Fund
President Umaru Yar’Adua has approved new guidelines for the application of the Ecological Fund with a view to ensuring effective utilisation of the fund.
Minister of Environment, John Odey disclosed this Thursday while addressing members of the National Committee on Ecological Problems set up by Yar’Adua.
Odey, who doubles as the chairman of the committee said in a response to a question for the amount for the ecological fund in this year’s budget, that these is no provision in the 2009 budget for ecological fund.
According to him, in line with the discretion of Yar’Adua, 60 per cent of the fund would be earmarked for drought and desertification, 25% for soil erosion and flood/gully erosion, pollution control and oil spillages while 10 per cent will be devoted to administration of the ecological fund office, National Committee on Environmental Problem (NCEP).
The minister said “the main thrust of the new guideline is the resolve of the present administration to recognise desertification as a grave ecological problem which poses alarming threats to the southern part of the country much as it does to the frontline states of the North.”
Odey noted that the effect of climate change in the country has greatly increased the sea level as a result of the melting ice, increase in coastal erosion, flooding in all parts of the country, adding that the desertification is rising at 650 meter per annum.
To effectively tackle the problem, the minister resolve to adequately address the menace of desert encroachment so that the country will not lose its entire length and breath to the ravaging force of desertification.
But one of the programmes designed to tackle the menace, he said is the National Afforestation Programme intended to combat the twin problems of desertification in the North and deforestification in the South resulting mainly from the activities of operators in the wood industry.
The minister, therefore, assured of the administration’s commitment to addressing other ecological problems, while pursuing drought and desertification control with enhance vigour.
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.
