Business
NECA Tasks FG On Diversification Agenda
The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), has urged the Federal Government to accelerate its diversification agenda with greater focus on the implementation of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).
The Director-General ( D-G) of NECA, Mr Timothy Olawale, said this in an interview with The Tide source recently in Lagos.
Olawale said that NECA’s advice to President Muhammadu Buhari’s second term in office is that the Federal Government should drastically reduce its over-dependence on revenues from crude oil export.
The DG urged government to give more priority to the needs of other businesses to fast-track national development and economic prosperity for citizens in the next four years and beyond.
He noted that in the last few years, the real sector had experienced mixed blessings, especially as it relates to trade liberalisation, backward integration, multiple taxation, poor access to funding and regulatory insensitivity.
“While we commend the various interventions by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other government-owned financial institutions, the reality, however is that much more is needed to enable the real sector achieve its full potential,’’he said.
Olawale emphasised that urgent support required by the sector includes: access to single digit capital, business-friendly exchange rate regime, effective policy to encourage the patronage of made-in-Nigeria goods.
Others are: concerted efforts at reducing smuggling, tax incentives that would promote expansion of businesses, enforcement of harmonized taxes and levies by the Joint Tax Board at all levels of government.
He called for an improved and institutionalised regular consultation with the Organised Private Sector (OPS) through established structures.
He listed the structures to include: NECA, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA).
Olawale said that more private sector membership should be included in the National Economic Team to consolidate the nation’s socio-economic development.
He said that NECA was in support of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), and the revolutionary assignment that was given to it.
Olawale stressed the need to encourage the growth of the real sector through a friendly regulatory environment.
“We are concerned about the contradictions between the mandate of PEBEC and the actions of some regulatory agencies of government.
“Recent experiences with regulatory agencies have been worrisome.
“We urge the Federal Government to rein-in on the regulatory agencies that have constituted themselves as clogs in the wheel of government’s Ease of Doing Business efforts,’’he said.
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.
