Business
FEC Approves N740bn To Clear Contractors’ Debts
The Federal Executive Council has approved the issuance of promissory notes for the settlement of debts owed local contractors worth N740 billion.
The Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, gave the hint while addressing newsmen after the Federal Executive Coucil meeting, adding that debts to GENCOS, DISCOs and state governments stood at N193.69 billion.
“The memorandum that the Council approved was for the issuance of a promissory note programme to settle inherited debts to local contractors and state governments on the part of Federal Government.
“These obligations had accrued prior to our coming into office and are across a number of sectors.
“We had pension liabilities, salaries some of which go back to 2006; unpaid salaries from 2012 to 2015; pensions to former Nigeria Airways staff from 2009, the Export Expansion Grant which was suspended in 2014; there are actually obligations on that between 2007 and 2014 when they were suspendend.
“What the government has agreed to do is to issue a promissory note, which is effectively an IOU.
“We are going to issue IOUs to the contractors and to those who Federal Government is obligated.
“Those promissory notes would mature over the next 10 years.
“So basically what we are doing is solving a long standing problem of contractor arrears.’’
The minister noted that the obligations were a drag on the economy because many of the contractors owed the banks which in turn had non-performing loans.
She said that the promissory notes had liquidity status meaning that the banks could accept them from the contractors and trade them to improve the banks’ non-performing loans.
She said that because of the government debts, there was illiquidity in such places as the power sector.
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.
