Business
‘Nigeria Needs 51,000 Engineers To Boost Power Reform’
The National Power Training Institute of Nigeria (NAPTIN) has said that country requires 51,000 engineers to fast-track the power sector reform.
Currently, the sector has an estimated 200 young engineers, craftsmen and fitters out of the required 51,000 engineers.
Ths Director-General of the Institute, Mr Reuben Okeke, gave the figure on Monday in Abuja at the induction of 220 beneficiaries of Subsidy Reinvestment Empowerment Programme (SURE-P).
Okeke said that the nation’s power sector had suffered dearth of young and qualified electrical engineers due to employment embargo since 1998.
He said that government had offered to train the 220 beneficiaries free, pay them stipend and sponsor them for post-graduate courses.
Mr Peter Esele, representing the SURE-P Chairman, Gen. Martin Luther Agwai,
said that eight vocational training centres had been selected nationwide to fast-track the young engineers training programme.
Esele stated that the training would also engage young Nigerians in agriculture, information technology, construction, creative arts, shipping and marine, oil, gas, hospitality and automobile.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Power, Dr Godknows Igali, who represented the Minister, Prof Chinedu Nebo, commended the Federal Government for unbundling the nation’s power sector.
Igali called on Nigerians to remain patient and supportive of the giant stride being taken to achieve the great feat in record time.
The Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, while inducting the trainees for their one-year scholarship programme, said the graduates would form the hub of the nation’s certified and skilled manpower in business drive.
He congratulated the trainees for their selection to transform the unbundled power sector.
Wogu also lauded the Federal Government for taking up the challenge of building the skill development of a future Nigeria.
The Tide Source reports that the graduate trainees of the one-year Technical Vocational Education Training Project (TVET) was in collaboration with the Ministry of Power and NAPTIN.
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.
