Business
Stakeholders Score 1st Quarter Economy Low
Some financial experts have rated the performance of the Nigerian economy in the first quarter low.
They told The Tide source in separate interviews in Lagos on Tuesday that the economy performed poorly during the period.
A former Director of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Mr Titus Okunronmu, said that numerous economic challenges contributed to the slow pace of economic growth in the first quarter.
He identified inadequate power supply as one of the problems, stressing that many companies spent huge sums on diesel to generate energy for their operations.
Okunronmu said that the high cost of running businesses had made many companies to relocate to neighbouring countries where electricity is stable.
“Lack of power supply and massive corruption constituted impediments to national development,’’ he said.
He advised the Federal Government to tackle the issue of corruption in ministries and parastatal agencies.
Fund Manager at Regency Assets Management Ltd., Mr Wale Omoregie, said that the removal of petrol subsidy affected the performance of the economy.
He said that removal of the subsidy led to hike in prices of food items and inflation.
“When there is inflation, some people will be worse off. The purchasing power of people would be affected negatively,’’ he said.
Omoregie also attributed the poor performance of the economy to the delay in passing the 2012 budget.
General Manager, Standard Alliance Insurance, Mr Olumide Adegoke, said that the real sector was inactive during the period due to lack of government’s intervention over a long time.
He said that the poor performance of the sector made it difficult for the sector to provide employment opportunities.
The insurance expert said that there was high rate of unemployment in the first quarter of the year.
He, therefore, appealed to the Federal Government to improve on national security and infrastructural development.
“The government should adopt aggressive steps to address the problem in the two areas so that the economy can witness rapid development,’’ he said.
He urged CBN to speedy up the banking reform to restore investors’ confidence in the sector.
General Manager, True Bond Microfinance Bank, Mr Wole Olowu, also said that the performance of the economy in the last quarter was not encouraging.
He, however, commended the performance of the oil sector, noting that the prices of crude oil had continued to rise at the international market.
Olowu said that good performance of the oil sector did not reflect on the total economy as the sector is not huge employer of labour.
He said that expectations were high for the remaining quarters of the year and urged government to put machinery in place to deliver good dividends of democracy.
Olowu advised government to cut down on its expenditure to check inflation.
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.