Business
MTN Seeks Lake Chad Region Development
MTN Nigeria has thrown its weight behind the ongoing two-day world conference aimed at arresting the depletion of the natural resources of Lake Chad region. The conference holding in Abuja, the nation’s capital seeks to sensitise the world on the deplorable state of infrastructure, lack of basic amenities and the untold hardship being faced by inhabitants of the Lake Chad region and also proffer solutions to the problems.
Mr Bola Akingbade, chief marketing and strategy officer, MTN, who announced the sponsorship of the conference in Lagos, with the title, “Saving Lake Chad,” said MTN is passionate about making the difference wherever it matters.
According to him, the depletion of water resources of the Lake Chad Basin has long reached the limits for sustainable development. The problem of water shortages within the region is begging for urgent attention and MTN as a humane organization cannot afford to shy away from the imminent danger looming around North-Eastern region of Nigeria as a result of the climate change there.
Lake Chad is an inland body of fresh water situated in the Sahelian Zone of the West Central Africa, surrounded by Cameroon, Chad Republic, Niger Republic and Nigeria. It has supported over 20 million people in communities within these countries – over the years. It has been the source of water for human, livestock and wildlife. The inhabitants, who practise irrigation farming, largely depend on the water from the Lake due to sparse rainfall in the region, Akingbade said.
He said it is regrettable that the resources in and around the Lake Chad Basin are fast becoming extinct as a result of several decades of drought and desertification occasioned by shortage of rainfall, high winds and temperature rise in the region. He observed the fast pace at which the resources in the region are diminishing.
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.