Business
Andoni Proposes N4.3bn FOR 2012
The Chairman of Andoni Local Government Area of Rivers State, Hon. Orom Nte Ereforokuma has made a budgetary proposal of N4,336,200,000,00 for the Council legislative Assembly.
Hon. Ereforokuma who made the presentation recently at the council chamber at Ngo, the headquarters of the council, hinted that N2,495,840,000.00 is for capital expenditure while N1,840,360,000.00 is for recurrent expenditure.
Explaining the budget tagged: “Budget of proactive development, Hon. Ereforokuma divulged further that N1,278,500,000 would be spent on economic sector, N283,340,000.00 for social services, N385,000,000.00 for Area Development, and N639,000,000,00 for Administration.
Assuring that the council has taken steps to increase the revenue base of the area, he promised to better the lives of the Andoni people as well as provide steady power supply by linking communities in the area to the national grid.
The council boss also promised to provide portable water, good road network, and learning materials to encourage students in their educational pursuits.
Ereforokuma assured that the budget would be judiciously utilised to promote good health and disease-free environment as well encourage young farmers and fishermen with soft loans.
In her speech , the leader if the legislative Assembly, Hon. Ataisi Willington commended the chairman for the early presentation of 2012 budgetary estimate to the legislative assembly.
She promised that the legislative Assembly would ensure speedy passage of the budgetary proposal into law to fast track the projects and progammes enshrined in it.
Enoch Epelle
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.
