Business
Rep Assures On Gas Flaring Reduction
The Member of House of Representatives representing Sagbama/ Ekeremor Federal Constituency of Bayelsa State, Hon. Fred Agbedi has given assurance that the Federal Government is putting everything together to ensure that gas flaring in the Niger Delta is drastically reduced.
He said that steps have been taken by the Federal Government to scale down the volume of gas flared in the region, adding that government is coming up with the policy of off takers of the gas that is being flared.
Agbedi, the House Committee Chairman on Gas, who disclosed this to aviation Correspondents at the Port Harcourt International Airport last Monday, also noted that it will not be easy to totally eliminate gas flaring.
According to him, gas flaring in the Niger Delta region can not be completely eliminated as being canvassed because oil companies need to burn some quantity of gas in the course of crude oil exploration and production.
“ The fact remains that they need some quantity of gas to burn for the production to also take place. The oil companies need to burn some quantity of gas in the course of crude oil exploration and production,” he said.
Never the less, Agbedi also stated that the steps the Federal Government is taking will bring on beard offtakers of the gas that is flared, and that once the contracting of gas flaring to offtakers is concluded, “ it will Largely reduce the flaring”
He said that there will also be some kinds of industrial flare that will take place for the process of exploration of crude oil, even when the offtakers are taking what they are supposed to take as quantify being flared.
“You cannot completely lock it down. What the Government and the international community is aiming at is to reduce the gas being flared in the environment,” he said.
Corlins Walter
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.