Business
Jonathan To Commission Dangote’s Ibese Cement Plant
President Goodluck Jonathan, will tommorow, commission the multi-billion dollar new Dangote cement plant, situated in Ibese, Ogun State. The new plant which has an installed capacity of six million metric tonnes of cement a year will be the largest of its kind in Africa.
With the commissioning, Dangote Cement’s total capacity will be 20.25 million metric tonnes of cement per year. Obajana cement has installed capacity of 10.25 million metric tonnes per year and Gboko plant produces four million metric tonnes.
In a statement signed by Dangote Group’s Head of Corporate Communications, Anthony Chiejina, the plant would make the country delist itself from cement-importing nations upon commissioning.
“We are marking the closing ceremony of cement import in Nigeria with the coming on stream of our Ibese cement plant, which will be producing a combined six-million tonnes per year from its initial two lines, while additional two lines will be added immediately to increase its production to 12 million tonnes per year”, he said at the weekend.
President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, had told the nation that his organisation was taking up the challenge to lead the way to make the nation self-reliant in the cement production as the nation was losing a huge sum in foreign exchange on imports.
According to him, the desire of the Dangote Cement would be to ensure that the country not only move away completely from import of certain commodities, of which cement is one, but strengthen the local production capacity to make her an exporting nation and increase her foreign reserves.
“Our long term ambition is to develop 46 million metric tonnes of production and terminal capacity in Africa by 2015. We want to become a truly pan-African champion in the sector, capable of competing globally with the largest cement companies in the world,” he said.
Dangote’s current cement business, which has generated revenues of $3 billion in 2010, has spread to 14 African countries, including Nigeria, Benin, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, the DRC, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Liberia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia.
Chiejina added: “Considering that Nigeria’s cement need is between17 to 19 million tonnes per year, by implication, with the coming on stream of Ibese, what Dangote Group alone will be producing will be far more than the country’s demand. That will set the pace for exportation of our products which will lead to increased products, more revenue for the company and better returns for the shareholders.”
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.