Business
NNPC Pipeline Blow Out: NYCOP Absolves Ogoni Youths …Blames Obsolete Shell Facilities
The apex youth body in Ogoni, the National Youth Council of Ogoni People (NYCOP), has debunked claims that the recent blow out of some pipelines belonging to the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), was an act of sabotage by Ogoni youths.
President of NYCOP, Dr Young Nkpah, said the incident was as a result of wornout facilities.
Speaking with The Tide in an exclusive interview in Port Harcourt at the weekend, the NYCOP president pointed out that the affected pipeline was layed as far back as 1958. He noted that the facilities were already obsolete which led to the blow out.
He said blaming the blow out on alledged sabotage by Ogoni youth was “a monumental distraction on the part of NNPC” and urged the federal government to critically address the Ogoni issues on its merits, without resorting to distractions and the blame game.
On the current laying of pipes by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in Ogoni, the NYCOP president described the process as a “misnomer”.
He said, “it beats human imagination that a company that has long divested from Ogoni land, stopped on-shore oil exploration and is assumed that there is no oil production in Ogoni from 1993 till date, will be laying new pipes in the area, the question is, what is the relevance of laying pipes in Ogoni now, with huge military presence? NYCOP feels they are testing the waters”.
He decried the hypocritical approach and lip service being paid to addressing the Ogoni issue, noting that NYCOP will mobilise its rank and file to resist any move by SPDC or the Federal Government to commence oil production in Ogoni , without addressing the issues at stake, which border on social injustice perpetrated against Ogoni people.
He accused the Federal Government of playing politics with the restoration and total remediation of Ogoni land and stated that, “the accelerated passage of the North East Development Commission Bill before the National Assembly was a clear indication of disservice to the Ogoni issue, which has lingered on for decades”.
Nkpah faulted the operations of HYPREP in Ogoni land, stating that the operations of the federal agency was lacking in consultation and clear cut criteria. “HYPREP said it was presently embarking on training of personels and building of internal processes, what are the criteria used for selecting the people to be trained? Who is involved in the training, and what are the internal processes being put in peace.
The NYCOP president further stated that “any prospecting oil company in Ogoni must adhere strictly to international best practices, you cannot sit in Abuja and allocated OML II to anybody without due consultation with critical stakeholders”.
On the way forward, he said the Ogoni Development Fund (ODF) was premised on the impetration of justice, noting that, “the good development of sustainable economic growth in Ogoni and Rivers State are both desirable, realistic and achievable, gives the proper understanding of the undercurrent which we have problematized in the Ogoni Bill of Rights”.
It could be recalled that the authorities of NNPC had alleged sabotage on the part of Ogoni youth in the recent blowout of its pipeline faciltieis in Ogoni laud.
Taneh Beemene
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.