Business
FG Targets 500,000 Hectares Of Irrigable Land
The Federal Government
says it will soon develop the nation’s irrigation potential to 500,000 hectares to scale-up commercial farming in the country.
The Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, made the remarks at the opening of a two-day National Agricultural Summit and Exhibition on Thursday in Kaduna.
The Summit is holding under the theme: “Towards Economic Diversification in Nigeria; Reinvention and promotion of Agribusiness.”
Adamu said in 2017 the Federal Government would increase its irrigation land with additional 23,000 hectares.
The minister, however, explained that currently not more than 10 per cent of the 3.14 million hectares of nation’s irrigable land is equipped with facilities for all year round farming.
He said “much of the available irrigation infrastructure requires further optimisation.”
He said the Federal Government had already identified about 16,000 hectares of brown field and another 388,000 hectares of green field suitable for commercial farming nationwide.
“We have taken steps to revive the 12 River Basin Development Authorities (RBDAs), the first of which is to develop an action plan and blueprint with objective of restoring mandate and creating job opportunities through irrigation farming.”
Adamu said the Federal Government, under the 2016- 2030 approved roadmap of the ministry, would further develop the irrigation potential through direct interventions.
He said the government is fine tuning its National Water and irrigation Policies to attract investors in the Agriculture sector
“ The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is desirous of uplifting the life of Nigerian Citizens by improving the people’s socio-economic well being with Agriculture being a major focus of the government.
“Extensive and all year round irrigated Agriculture has become more imperative considering the drastic decline in earnings from petroleum export.”
According to him, steps are being taken to improve the water resources sector generally and in particular to support agribusness nationwide.
“The draft National Water Bill, National Water policy and National Irrigation and drainage policy were recently approved by the Federal Executive Council.
“ The irrigation policy will engender stable and attractive environment for investors and development partners in Agriculture.
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.
