Business
CBN Disburses N473bn Under Agric Credit Scheme
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), says it has disbursed more than N473 billion under its Commercial Agricultural Credit Scheme.
The bank’s Deputy Governor, Alhaji Sulaiman Barau, disclosed this at the inauguration of Sorghum Milling plant, established by the Northern Nigeria Flour Mills in Kano last Tuesday.
“The Commercial Agric Credit Scheme is an initiative of the bank, and to date, 513 projects have benefitted from the scheme with disbursement of over N473 billion,” he said.
He said no fewer than 604 projects had benefitted from the Small Medium Enterprises refinancing Scheme with disbursement of over N382 billion.
He said the bank would continue to support initiatives aimed at conserving foreign exchange reserve.
He said the establishment of the mill would be of strategic importance to grains belt in the region, adding that the mill would be useful in the development of maize, Sorghum and millet value chain.
According to him, the establishment of the sorghum mill would boost agricultural productivity, generate employment and Nigeria’s industrialisation technology transfer.
“It is expected that the high quality Sorghum flour that will come out of this mill will impact on our exchange rate positively,” he said.
In her remarks, the Minister of State, Industry, Trade and Investment, Hajiya Aisha Abubakar, said the initiative was in line with the Federal Government’s vision on Economic Recovery and Growth Plan as it was designed to promote sustained and inclusive growth.
“The overall vision of the plan is to significantly increase the manufacturing contribution to GDP in the next five years and unlock the bottlenecks militating against the growth and development of the industrial sector.”
in his speech, Kano State Governor, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, urged other companies to borrow a leaf from the mill to enhance economic activities in the state.
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.