Business
FCT Communities Laud FADAMA III Programme
Rubochi and Gbamfa communities both in Kuje Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), have commended Fadama III for bringing development to them.
Our correspondent reports that the the World Bank-assisted programme is a follow up to the first and second editions and has been implemented over a five-year period from 2008 to 2013.
The objective of the project is to increase the income of users of rural land and water resources on a sustainable basis as well as reduce poverty while boosting food security.
Members of the communities made the commendation when Fadama III Technical Assistance Mission team visited them.
“Since the intervention of Fadama in our community, development has come and our lives have improved financially.
“Our community is promoted as we now receive strangers in the community,’’ said Gloria Bitrus in Gbamfa.
Gloria, who is in the Shea butter group of the Fadama project in Gbamfa, said that profit generated from the project saw her through school as she recently graduated from Kwali Secondary School.
Also, Mrs Rhoda Ishaku, the Chairperson of widows group in Rubochi community, thanked the programme managers for intervening in their community, describing it as an ‘eye opener’.
Ishaku said following the training they received, they had acquired new skills and had improved on the method of processing their farm produce.
“When Fadama came into our community, it opened our eyes to so many new things like improved cassava and groundnut processing methods.’’
The chairperson, however, solicited for more training on the use of the processing machines provided for them by Fadama.
Sharing the same view, Mr Ijadiyi Olawale, who is the chairman of the poultry farmers group, said he was glad Fadama came to their rescue in Rubochi.
According to Olawale, the gains made from the farm are being re-invested to expand the farm and cater for his family.
However, both communities complained of lack of access road to the market to sell their goods as they travelled over 14 kms to Abaji market to sell their produce.
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.
