Business
Gov Sad Over Moribund Industries In Benue
Gov Samuel Ortom of
Benue on Friday said it saddened him to discover that major industries were non-functional in the State.
Ortom, who stated this when he visited Taraku Mills Limited, Gwer Local Government Area, held that the State could only be under a spell to have allowed high level of economic decay and abandonment of all her industries.
“This is my first time of coming into the oil mill and from what we have seen, Benue is under a spell. There is no reason for this factory to be lying fallow. This factory is our gold mine that should not be joked with.
“We have all the needed raw materials for this factory to function effectively, yet previous administrations failed to utilise the factory to create job wealth for people.
“Government is borrowing money at all levels to pay salaries; so we must look beyond the box to enable us succeed.
“The raw materials are here and when the factory starts working, farmers will smile.
“I want to pay tribute to our legend, the late Gov. Aper Aku who had the foresight to establish this factory and I promise to build on his legacies.
“We will create the enabling environment to ensure that our industries function again”, Ortom promised.
The Tide source reports that the factory, built in 1983, is among the numerous moribund industries owned by State Government.
The company, when operational, has the capacity to provide over 600 jobs and create massive wealth for Benue farmers.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Growrich Resort Limited, Managers of Taraku Mills, Mr Ernest Jor, said the company lacked water, power supply as well as adequate funds to maintain uninterrupted production.
He appealed to the governor to assist the company to construct an earth dam to address the water challenge in the factory.
The Tide source reports that the factory was built with capacity to process 72,000 tons of soya beans, 120,000 tons of maize and 172,300 tons of animal feeds annually.
NAN further reports that the complex was also designed to produce vegetable oil, groundnut oil, maize flour, cake, maize grit, livestock feeds, concentrate and diet mix, among others.
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.
