Business
NNPC Subsidiary Posts N15.8bn Profit
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says Nigerian Gas Processing and Transportation Company Ltd. (NGPTC), one of its subsidiary companies has declared a profit after tax of N15.81 billion in 2016.
The NNPC disclosed this in Abuja recently in a statement by the corporation’s Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr Ndu Ughamadu.
Ughamadu explained that the profit was due to the write-back of deferred tax of N8.05 billion in 2015 and part of the dividends of the ongoing transformation.
The Chief Operating Officer and Chairman of NGPTC, Mr Saidu Mohammed disclosed that the profit before tax for the year ended December 31, 2016 was N24.4 billion as against N20.9 billion in 2015.
“This represents an increment of 16.8 per cent, while the profit after tax reduced from N22.6 billion in 2015 to N15.81 billion in 2016.
“Also, earnings per share reduced from N4,510 in 2015 to N3,163 for 2016.
“The total revenue generated from gas sold and transmitted during 2016 amounted to N219.5 billion as against N155.5 billion in 2015, representing a 41 per cent increase over the previous year,” he said.
Ughamadu said that the increase was due to revenue generated from application of higher transportation tariff and new commercial customers that came on stream.
“An overview of NGPTC’s business performance for the year 2016 shows that 307 billion standard cubic feet (bscf) of gas was sold and transmitted as against the planned 463 bscf, thereby achieving 66.4 per cent of its target.
“The year 2016 also reveals a performance of four per cent below the volume of 319.25 bscf sold in 2015,” the public affairs manager said. He noted that the company was confronted with the challenges of incessant vandalism of the Escravos-Lagos Pipeline System 1 (ELPS 1), Trans Forcados pipeline and evacuation bottleneck of condensate in 2016.
He acknowledged the continued support of NGPTC’s host communities for the sustained peace and tranquility in the company’s areas of operation.
Business
Wealth Creation: GCPBS Convenes Strategic Investment Workshop In PH
Banking/ Finance
Ripple Survey Reveals Appetite for Digital Assets
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.
