Business
Youth Want Conducive Environment For Technological Innovations
Some youths have called
on the Federal Government to intensify efforts at creating an enabling environment to encourage them to be involved in technological innovations.
The youths made the call in separate interviews with newsmen recently in Abuja.
They said that such enabling environment would help them to express their creativity and innovation in information technology for national development.
Mr Greg Okoh, a young computer programmer said that both the youths and government had their roles to play, adding that while the government gave the enabling environment, the youths must play their own role too.
“As a nation, the government has a role to play but also the individuals too must have a passion for ICT.
Okoh also emphasised on Zuckerberg’s visit as a wakeup call to the youths in the country as well as for the government to promote ICT.
He said that a policy should be put in place that would create an enabling environment for the youths to grow their ideas and exhibit their talents in the area of ICT.
“Zuckerberg is a young man though a global figure by virtue of his innovation and creativity.
“His visit should be a wakeup call for the youths of our nation. If we try to do more, we can do more than what Zuckerberg has done.
“The government should also create an enabling environment; there should be a policy statement that will create an enabling environment for the youths to express themselves and also grow their ideas in the area of ICT, and science and technology.
“I believe Nigerian youths have more than what Zuckerberg has, all they need is just an enabling environment to explore and also a drive from within themselves.”
Okoh advised that youths should bring up ideas that would be beneficial to the society through ICT, adding that government should create a platform for them to explore.
“I challenge youths to think deeper and bring up innovative ideas so that when this enabling environment is made available, they can do well and better than what their counterparts in other countries are doing,” he said.
Mr Kingsley Amadi, a computer science student of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri said that the world had gone global and there was need to be abreast of current technology.
Amadi said that the government needed to key into the global technological advancement, especially through the youths for development.
“The world now has gone digital, even newspapers are read online these days. That’s why more concentration should be on ICT development and how the internet can be made available for everybody even those in the rural areas.
“People should be given access to the internet same way they have access to other things just as it is done abroad, they have free WIFIs in the office, houses, churches and so on,” he said.
Amadi said that there was need for a wider coverage of internet and other facilities for the development of ICT to grow the economy.
“This will help boost our economy in the area of education, defence and security, especially now that we are having security challenges,” he said.
On his part, Miss Winifred Williams, a student of Afe Babalola University in Osun said that youths should be given the platform to explore, especially in the area of ICT.
“Youths are the future of the world, and in Nigeria we have more youths that need to be encouraged and supported, especially in the rea of ICT,” he said.
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.
