Business
NCC Tasks Operators On Corporate Goverance Code
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has directed all operators to comply with the industry’s Code of Corporate Governance.
The Executive Vice-Chairman, NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, disclosed this at a sensitisation workshop for operators on Code of Corporate Governance in Lagos last Tuesday.
Danbatta, who spoke on: “’Sustaining the Telecommunications industry as Leverage for the Next Generation Economy”, said that all operators ought to have complied since 2016.
“We (NCC) have had a passive period of mandatory compliance and we have tried to bring it to the industry’s notice. This sensitisation workshop is to let the operators understand that ignorance is no longer an excuse.
“The entrenchment of good corporate governance standards and practices has continued to gain global recognition and its acceptance is the bedrock for corporate success and business sustainability.
“The adoption of the concept and principles are intended to present a win-win model of inter-relations predicted on openness, accountability, transparency and integrity,” he said.
He said that the industry’s Code of Corporate Governance was developed to raise the standard of leadership and management in the sector.
Danbatta said that when all operators comply, it would aid the growth of the nation’s economy beyond the current contribution of 9.8 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Danbatta urged the operators to ensure international best practices so as to remain relevant in the contemporary world economy.
He said that since technological trends had disrupted traditional economic order, the sector must leverage on its strength to provide the backbone needed to ride storm.
“In the last 16 years of the telecommunications revolution, many operators have fallen by the way side, largely owing to internal management issues rather than from technical challenges.
“As we migrate more toward knowledge and higher level economy, infrastructure dependency on internet and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) support services, it will no longer be desirable for such collapse to occur.
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.
