Business
Agriculture, Panacea For Economic Diversification – VC
The Vice Chancellor of the Federal University, Otuoke, Bayelsa State, Professor Seth Accra-Jaja, has stated that for Nigeria to eradicate poverty and hunger, boost investment, enhance industrialisation and economic diversification, agriculture should be on the front burner of the Federal Government Developmental initiatives.
He stated this in a keynote address delivered at the 22nd NAOC-Green River Project Farmers’ Day celebration in Igbogene, Bayelsa State, recently.
According to him, government at all levels have shown serious concern on the need to develop agriculture in Nigeria, stressing that during the 24th edition of the Nigerian Economic Summit the Federal Government resolved to diversify the economy from oil to other sustainable sector, especially agriculture.
The Minister of Finance, he said, re-echoed that despite the rise in crude oil price at the international market, government was committed to diversify the economy by promoting agriculture and other allied sector of the economy.
Some of these agric initiatives, he continued, include, incentive based risk sharing system for agricultural lending, growth enhancement support scheme designed to encourage critical access in the fertilizer value chain, agricultural resilience scheme, transformational agenda and green alternative agriculture promotion policy-2016-2020.
Prof Accra-Jaja argued that in spite of the agree policy initiatives of the government, weak traditional management framework, migration of youth talents, poor output, extensive poverty, poor funding, lack of enabling environment and increasing threat to life and property pose a major challenge to the realisation of the objectives of the economic diversification policy thrust of the government.
He urged youths to embrace agric business, saying that nobody drinks oil, but everybody eats food.
Kinika Mpi
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.
