Business
Reps Set To Investigate Oil Firms
The House of
Representatives says it would investigate the state and age of the operational equipment of oil-producing companies in Nigeria.
The resolution was taken following a motion by the Goodluck Opia, praying for the need to reduce the increasing rate of oil spill and environmental pollution in the Niger Delta.
Opia, who was arguing on the need to investigate oil pollution in Ohaji-Egbema and Oguta Local Government Areas of Imo State said the areas were operational base of Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC).
He said the areas suffered oil spillage and fire explosion which resulted in deaths and damages of property.
Opia stressed the need to investigate the state of equipment used by NAOC in its 50 years of operation in the communities.
He told the House that virtually all oil companies operating in the oil-rich Niger Delta region use substandard and outdated equipment which are unsafe and pollute the environment.
The lawmaker accused the oil firms of having little regard for the safety of lives and property of the host communities.
Supporting the motion, Hon Aliyu Magaji, emphasised the need to regularly check or monitor activities of the oil firms to ensure compliance with the extant laws regulating their operations.
“There is need to find out if these oil companies are actually doing what they are supposed to do”, he said.
He further noted that the guarantee standard which is crucial in averting poor maintenance services, there was also need to ensure that their facilities were monitored.
In his ruling, speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara said the investigation into the remote and immediate causes of the incident would be carried by an adhoc committee to be set up by the House.
According to the speaker, the committee would also investigate damages caused to the host communities and to determine the state of operational equipment used by Agip and other oil-producing companies in the affected areas.
The committee, according to Dogara, has four weeks to report back to the House.
It would also be recalled that Rivers State House of Assembly (RSHA) is also investigating the explosion which occurred recently in Agip facility in Ebocha, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State. The explosion resulted in huge damage and environmental pollution.
Agip has suffered some such explosions on its facilities thereby raising eyebrows over the state of its equipment.
Ebocha community staged protests against the company and called on the Rivers State Government to intervene in their plight.
The community also accused Agip of insensitivity to the safety of host people.
Chris Oluoh
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.
