Business
NCC, Stakeholders To Collaborate On Local Content
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says collaboration is essential to boost local content in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry.
The Executive Vice Chairman, NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta made this known during the ICT Community Roundtable, organised by the Association of Information Communication Technology Local Content (ICTLOCA) on Wednesday in Lagos.
The theme of the roundtable is: “ICT Local Content: Dissecting Challenges and Proffering Solutions”.
Represented by the Lagos Zonal Controller of NCC, Henry Ojiokpota, Danbatta said that there was the need for stakeholders to work together to build the requisite skills that could boost local content.
He said that there was the need to collaborate with tertiary institutions and the National Universities Commission (NUC) and look at contents the institutions had in the areas of ICT.
According to him, the ICT industry needs to have a database of both formal and informal ICT skills across the country.
He said that such database would ensure that skills required in a particular area were easily accessed.
“We want to see how we can bring those people together under one roof, so that they can be able to speak with one voice.
“Most importantly for us is having the data of all ICT skills available in the country, that will help people to be able to compete globally for jobs in other climes and also within Nigeria.
“If Nigerians have the requisite skills, companies will not give their jobs to foreigners.
“You don’t expect an employer to employ workers and then begin to train them all over again. The time is not there.
“So if the skill that is required to take over the industry is not there, the problem of local content will continue.
“We need to build up a database of ICT skills across the country, both formal and informal ICT skills and also collaborate,” he said.
Danbatta said that NCC was bridging the skill gap by training people through the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), to help them to be able to compete for job in the oil and gas sector.
He said that the commission was funding research proposals on ICT in universities across the six geopolitical zones, aimed at instilling local content.
“We found out that people have excellent project proposals but with funding of those research proposals it can really help them to be able to bring those proposals forward and solve practical human problems,” Danbatta said.
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.
