Business
2012 Fed Budget: PHCCIMA Faults Sectoral Allocationsa
The Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce,
Industry, Mines and Agriculture (PHCCIMA), has criticised the 2012 federal
budget, alleging that most of the sectoral allocations are injurious to
government’s economic transformation agenda.
PHCCIMA President, Vincent Furo, described
as inadequate, budgetary allocations to eight of the 15 sectors of the economy,
saying that the allocations will not promote private sector participation,
growth and much-needed security, especially in the Niger Delta region.
Furo, an engineer, made the assertions,
Tuesday in a paper he presented at the 2012 Enpowerment Economic/Business
conference organised by the Sam Ohuabunwa Foundation for Economic Empowerment
(SOFEE) in partnership with PHCCIMA.
In his paper titled: “Business Survival in
a Deregulated Economy”, the PHCCIMA President identified the 2012 federal
budgetary allocations to Agriculture (78.98bn), Water Resources ((N39bn),
Aviation (N49.23bn) and Transport (N54.83bn) as grossly inadequate.
Also suffering from inadequate budgetary
provisions Furo said, were Land and Housing (N26.49bn), Science and Technology
(N30.84bn), Communication Technology (N18.31bn) and Niger Delta (N61bn).
Furo argued that agriculture deserved
better allocation considering government’s desire to achieve food sufficiency
while the dearth of potable drinking water nationwide recommended the sector
for special funding.
He said the obsolete standard of the
nation’s airports and the antiquated and unsafe Nigerian transport sector ought
to have informed higher budgetary allocations than the aviation and transport
sectors received.
The allocations to Land and Housing as well
as to Communication Technology, were also poor, the PHCCIMA boss said, arguing
that the housing crisis across the nation and the need for Nigeria to properly
position itself in an ICT-driven global economy ought to have informed better
allocations to the sectors.
Furo was also saddened that Niger Delta whose
crude oil and gas endowments account for over 85 percent of the nation’s
revenue and which is still ravaged by the side-effects of oil and gas
exploration and exploitation, received only N61bn allocation.
Questioning the rationale for the Jumbo
vote to security (N921.91bn) while Nigerians appear helplessly vulnerable in
the face of unending fatal attacks by the Boko Haram Sect, the PHCCIMA
President said the allocation to the Niger Delta was grossly inadequate to
provide infrastructure, improve welfare and gurantee peace and investment.
He urged the federal government to
effectively deregulate the economy and allow the private sector assume the
driving seat in the development of the nation’s economy, Furo also made a case
for the review of the allocations to the aforementioned critical sectors to
enable the 2012 budget achieve its target.
Earlier, founder of SOFEE, Mazi Sam
Ohuabunwa had noted that the private sector remained the engine room that
drives economic growth.
He said it was the role of government to
make policies which the entrepreneurs leverage on to push the frontiers of
economic growth.
Ohuabunwa noted however that there appears
a disconnect between government policies and its execution.
SOFEE, he said, was committed to resolving the bottlenecks in the way of the
nation’s economic growth through the empowerment of individuals and
stakeholders with needed information.
The theme of the one-day conference which
attracted stakeholders from the private sector, Federal Ministries and
Parastatals was: “Budget 2012 and the Economic Transformation Agenda”.
Donald Mike-Jaja
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.
