Business
FG Earmarks $20bn For Gas Expansion Annually
The Federal Government says about $20 billion annual investments would be required to achieve the desired gas expansion projects in Nigeria and deepen the use of gas across the country.
The government disclosed this through the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) at the Decade of Gas Action Plan Dialogue, organised by the African Initiative for Transparency, Accountability and Responsible Leadership, in Abuja on Monday.
The Executive Secretary, NEITI, Ogbonnaya Orji, explained that for the gas utilisation policy of the Federal Government to work, there was a compelling need for deliberate ambitious investment in gas infrastructure.
He said this would include investments in specific connectivity across upstream facilities to processing, power plants, and other end uses.
Speaking on how to review Nigeria’s gas utilisation policy to align with the country’s energy transition plan, he said, “the network code provides a framework through third-party access to resolve some of the connectivity issues, but to a large extent, achieving the desired gas expansion will require an estimated $20bn annually to bridge Nigeria’s gas infrastructure.
“Given the shrinking fossil fuel investment landscape, clarity is required of the infrastructure to be prioritised”.
Orji noted that the largest gas reserves in Africa was in Nigeria, as the country’s gas reserves was the 9th largest globally.
He said NEITI reports put the country’s gas reserves at over 200 trillion cubic feet, as the agency’s position was consistent with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act passed in 2021.
“The Petroleum Industry Act provided the most significant progress for the gas sector in strengthening governance and providing fiscal frameworks for the sector’s growth.
“We call on the government to urgently put a national gas utilisation policy in place. Such policy needs to be clear on the specific roles of the industry, government, and investors in implementing the plan.
“Similarly, the gas utilisation plan should show the market-driven opportunities that would successfully translate the gas plans into sustainable economic development. NEITI recommends a costed plan with realistic targets that is easy to implement”, Orji stated.
On his part, the Executive Director, African Initiative for Transparency, Accountability and Responsible Leadership, Louis Ogbeifun, said many countries were currently abandoning fossil fuels.
He called on the Federal Government to increase its crude oil production in the short run beyond the current level to have money to diversify and invest in other alternative sources.
“In the medium and long-term periods, natural gas, which Nigeria has in abundance, which has been described as cleaner than coal or petroleum, is also within the fossil fuel family.
“Therefore, walking off fossil fuel for Nigeria is not immediately foreseeable. The question is, how does Nigeria maximise its hydrocarbon benefits with so much of its assets lost to vandalism, crude theft, and the massive depreciation of its currency?
“Nigeria’s focus on using gas as a sustainable energy alternative is capital-intensive. It has been speculated that Nigeria would need over $1tn to achieve the 2060 zero-emission targets,” Ogbeifun stated.
He urged citizens to be worried about how to fund gas projects in a manner that would be cost-efficient.
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.
