Business
NLPGA Operators Plan Gas Cylinder Plants
The Nigerian Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association (NLPGA), says its members will soon set up assembly plants for gas cylinders in major cities in the country.
Alhaji Auwalu Ilu, President of the association, told newsmen in Lagos on Wednesday that the aim was to increase the number of gas cylinders in circulation by about 100 per cent.
“As soon as the market is saturated with cylinders, operators will embark on enlightenment campaigns on the use of gas as better means of cooking,” he said.
Ilu said that the investment, which would worth about N12 billion, would commence in the fourth quarter of 2011.
He said that the operators also intended to purchase 100 distribution trucks to get cylinders to the people.
According to him, the association is appealing to the Federal Government to make the sector more investor-friendly by removing the Value Added Tax on LPG.
“The government should also reduce duties on cylinders and other accessories,” he said.
Ilu said that the imposition of VAT on the product at different points of the distribution chain was responsible for the high price of cylinders.
“There is the need to raise awareness on the benefits of using cooking gas rather than other fuels like firewood and charcoals which cause deforestation which is inimical to the environment.
“Our grandmothers and grandfathers cannot continue to be felling trees for fuel, a trend they have maintained for ages, and then we don’t do something to change that trend,’’ he added.
“I know those who have never tried using cooking gas do have this fear about its ability to ignite and engulf a place easily.
“But again, there is no one who has ever switched from firewood and kerosene to cooking gas that wants to go back.
“So this means there is the need for awareness to encourage more people to utilise cooking gas,” he said.
Ilu urged the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the NNPC, Ministry of the Environment, Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Information to be at forefront of the campaigns.
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.
