Business
Again, NNPCL Discovers Oil In Nasarawa communities
Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, has said preliminary findings by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) has revealed that there is crude oil in Agwatashi and Assakio communities in Obi Local Government Area (LGA) of the state.
The NNPCL had found oil in Keana LGA and preparations are on to commence its drilling by March.
Speaking during an interactive session with All Progressives Congress (APC) Stakeholders in Obi LGA yesterday, Governor Sule said his administration will not relent until Nasarawa State begins to enjoy the 13 percent derivation as an oil producing state.
The Governor further said the State Government would sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the NNPCL on February 18, 2023, to enable them commence the drilling of the oil in Keana LGA without any hitches.
He appealed to the APC stakeholders to re-elect him during the 2023 general election, promising to bring more dividends of democracy to the people of the state.
He also called on the stakeholders to elect all other candidates of the APC from top to bottom.
“Preliminary findings have shown that there is oil in Obi LGA. This Saturday, February 18, the NNPCL and the Nasarawa State Government will sign an MoU to drill the oil in Keana LGA.
“In 2019, when I came out to campaign and mentioned oil, a lot of people assumed it was mere politics. That time, I promised that, by the grace of God, I will use my experience that I acquired from my stay in Houston, Texas, global headquarters of the oil, to try.
“As at that time, oil was discovered only in Keana. A lot of people didn’t even know the extent of the oil discovery. The issue of oil has now become a reality. Now NNPCL will drill the first oil well in March.
“I will not rest until we finally join the league of oil producing states and we begin to enjoy the 13 percent derivation. We expect to see appreciable progress by May this year”, he stated.
The Tide’s source reports that as part of his campaign, Sule paid homage to the palaces of the Osuko of Obi, HRH Alhaji Aliyu Dangiwa Ogiri and the Emir of Azara, HRH Alh. Dr. Muhammad Kabiru Ibrahim II.
The APC stakeholders in Obi LGA vowed to mobilise support for all candidates of the party to ensure that they emerge victorious in the 2023 general election.
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.
