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Plateau: Poverty fueling girls’ abscondment from homes

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About a month ago, Mr. Patrick from Kabwir, Pankshin local government area of Plateau State raised an alarm that his 25-yrs old daughter, Ritmwa and her three years old daughter were missing. He contacted his relatives who began a search until the duo were found in Jos, the State capital with a woman identified as Mary who was planning to send them to Warri, Delta State.

Ritmwa is a barely literate adult but vulnerable, she said she was promised a job in Warri hence her abscondment from her home in Kabwir.

Last December, Abigail, a pregnant 19 years old from Jos was lured to Abuja by two women who promised to help her get a new life. Her new born baby was snatched from her by unknown persons while she was pushed into prostitution. Her father, Mr. Emmanuel now worries how the baby could be recovered.

In October, 2022, 17 years Na’ankiel from Mikang was taken in the night from her home in Garkawa to Port Harcourt in Rivers State with a promise of getting a job as a maid to a family, she returned with stories about being turned to a prostitute.

In the same year, a pregnant woman left Gidan Dabat in Qua’an Pan local government area to roam the streets in Jos in search of “someone who will buy” her baby because she learnt that “they sell babies in Jos.”

Recall that insecurity and poverty in the recent past had exposed Plateau State to the rising cases of human trafficking, spousal/child abandonment, sexual abuses, drug dependency, cultism and other emerging vices. The National Human Rights Commission, the State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Nigeria Association of Women Journalists, International Federation of Women Lawyers, among other groups repeatedly raised concerns about the development.

Although insecurity in the hinterlands has abated, poverty is now exposing young women/girls to abuses as they ignorantly get trafficked out in the guise of greener pasture. The trend is for those who got out to return and flaunt their “wealth and exposure” and lure others who show interest to join.

However, Ritmwa who was intercepted in His and her planned journey aborted is not a happy person as she said the quest for employment motivated her to embark on the journey.

She said, “I was going to Warri to look for job, friends testified there are openings there. Madam Mary is the grandmother to the people who called me to come to Warri and she was helping me to go there.

“I did not inform anyone where I was going because when I told my father about the plan, he didn’t buy the idea but because I am looking for employment so that I can send my child to school, I had to go with them. I need my own money, I have been helping my stepmother to sell food in the village, I don’t know anybody in Warri but I was willing to try because people told me there are jobs there.”

Ritmwa’s aunt who found her and her child at the Tudun Wada area of Jos north local government area said, “We have seen cases where what seemed as genuine jobs turned out to be a scam. These people prey on vulnerable people and take their children away. When the children return, some will come back very sick before you know, they will die. The children have very terrible tales to tell that is why we must do everything to prevent them from leaving home in this manner.”

Uba-Ochanya Fatoki, the Programme Manager/Legal Officer, Christian Women for Excellence and Empowerment in Nigerian Society, CWEENS whose organization works with vulnerable people cautioned parents against giving out their children.

She said, “Parents should be discouraged from sending off their children in search of greener pasture because this has proven to do more harm than good to the children in the long run. Experiences from working with young girls have shown that promises of a better future made by the care givers are never kept and these children are seen either roaming the streets or even being exposed to dangerous situations.

“There are varying risks that accompany sending children especially young girls to live in places outside their homes, where they would work as domestic servants. Some of the common risk children face include; long and tiring working hours, insufficient or inadequate food and accommodation, denial of access to education, healthcare and right to rest/leisure, humiliating treatment including physical and verbal violence and sexual abuse.

“These factors can have irreversible physical, psychological, and moral impact on the development health and wellbeing of a child. Also, many children who have been uprooted from their homes risk being forced into work or even being trafficked, especially if they are migrating alone or taking irregular routes without their families.”

 

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Anduril raises $5B, doubles valuation to $61B

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Another year, another massive influx of capital for Anduril: the funding round that was rumored to be in process in March has officially closed. Anduril has raised a $5 billion Series H round at a $61 billion valuation, led by returning investors Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, the company announced Wednesday.

This is more than double the valuation it landed just under a year ago, when it raised $2.5 billion at a $30.5 billion valuation led by Founders Fund. (Founder’s Fund invested a $1 billion check, the largest check it has ever written, it told TechCrunch at the time.)

This latest raise comes after the nine-year-old defense tech company doubled revenue in 2025 to $2.2 billion, CEO Brian Schimpf wrote in a blog post announcing the raise.

Interestingly, as much as Anduril is the clear-cut winner among VC investors, the Department of Defense is already giving signs that it won’t lock itself into any one rising-star startup.

Shield AI, another U.S. drone company, recently had its software selected by the Air Force to work with Anduril’s “Fury” autonomous fighter jet, rather than granting the whole hardware and software contract to either one of them.

Still, Anduril is hardly hurting by sharing. In the past few weeks, it has announced a number of contracts, expanding outside the U.S., too.

In May it announced it was part of a contract with others to develop a space-based “golden dome” defensive system — a missile defense shield designed to protect the continental U.S. — for America. Anduril also announced a contract win from the Dutch Ministry of Defense and a U.S. Army contract for battle manager software, using its Lattice platform to analyze data from joint missile defense systems.

“When we founded Anduril in 2017, defense was not a category that attracted significant venture investment. That has changed meaningfully over the last several years,” Schimpf wrote in the post.

It has. To offer just a few recent examples: in March, Shield AI raised $1.5 billion in Series G funding at a $12.7 billion valuation. Last month, Hermeus, maker of hypersonic unmanned fighter jets, raised $350 million at a $1 billion+ valuation, led by Khosla Ventures. And European defense tech darling Helsing is reportedly close to raising a new $1.2 billion round at about an $18 billion valuation, led by Dragoneer and earlier Helsing investor Lightspeed.

Anduril has now raised more than $11 billion from investors altogether.

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NITDA, IDCA partner to transform Nigeria’s digital economy

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The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has signed a strategic partnership agreement with the International Data Centre Authority (IDCA) to accelerate Nigeria’s transition into a fully integrated digital economy through a large-scale national digital infrastructure programme.

NITDA announced the partnership in a joint statement signed by the Director, Corporate Communications and Media Relations Department, Hadiza Umar, and the IDCA’s Global Head of Strategic Services, Head of Europe and Africa, Solomon Edun, on Wednesday.

The partnership is in line with the Nigerian Sovereign Cloud (NSC) initiative, which aims to establish an execution-led, investment-driven framework for infrastructure deployment.

The NSC initiative also aims to achieve regulatory standards and workforce development into a unified national platform designed to mobilise both public and private capital and accelerate long-term economic value creation.

Integrated pillars

According to NITDA, at the centre of the programme is the ‘Nigeria Digital Triangle (NDT)’, a network of strategically located hyperscale, AI-enabled data centre clusters intended to anchor investment, host global cloud and enterprise workloads, and serve as the backbone for Nigeria’s emerging digital economy.

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According to the partners, the initiative will be built around four integrated pillars: a national digital economy masterplan with clearly defined milestones; hyperscale infrastructure development through interconnected digital hubs; national digital standards aligned with international best practices; and a structured education and workforce development system aimed at sustaining long-term capability building.

Speaking on the partnership, the Director-General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa, described the initiative as a significant milestone in Nigeria’s economic and digital transformation.

“This initiative represents a defining moment in Nigeria’s economic transformation, reaffirming the government’s commitment to advancing the Digital Economy and Data Sovereignty Agenda.

“By working with the leading experts of IDCA and members of the National Sovereign Cloud Initiative Technical Working Group as the most advanced and credible think tank, prioritizing digital infrastructure, talent development, data sovereignty, artificial intelligence, and entrepreneurship, Nigeria is laying a strong foundation for sustainable infrastructure growth, job creation, global competitiveness, and innovation-driven, inclusive development,” the NITDA boss, Mr Inuwa said.

On his part, the Chairman of IDCA, Mehdi Paryavi, noted that Nigeria’s economic position and growth potential will make the initiative strategically important for the continent.

“Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa and has the potential to become larger and more impactful to the lives of the people of Africa and beyond.

“This is more than a national initiative; it is a platform for long-term economic value creation. By integrating digital infrastructure, standards, and talent, bundled with investments and the right policymaking.

“Nigeria is building a competitive advantage in the global digital economy,” the data centre authority chairman said, emphasising Nigeria’s digital role on the continent.

READ ALSO: NITDA raises alarm on DeepLoad AI malware attacks, proffers solutions

Execution

The Chief Research Officer at IDCA, Roger Strukhoff, said the programme positions Nigeria to become a regional technology leader. According to him, the initiative is a structured, investment-ready approach that aligns strategy with execution and global best practices.

“Nigeria is taking a decisive step toward becoming a regional digital powerhouse. IDCA is pleased to be fundamental to this historic economic evolution,” he said.

Solomon Edun, global head of strategic services and head of Europe and Africa, stated that the IDCA and Nigeria have worked for years to reach the point of digital economy transformation and partnership.

He added that the partnership will enable a scalable, sustainable digital ecosystem by focusing on infrastructure deployment.

“This is a historic moment, and the program is designed to translate vision into measurable outcomes. By focusing on infrastructure deployment, investment attraction, and skills development, we are enabling a scalable and sustainable digital ecosystem,” he said.

NITDA’s Acting Director, Regulation and Compliance, Emmanuel Edet, highlighted the importance of standards and governance in supporting the project.

According to him, the development of nationally endorsed standards, implemented in parallel with enabling physical infrastructure, is fundamental to ensuring regulatory consistency, data security, and long-term sustainability.

“This collaborative initiative between Nigeria and the International Data Centre Authority establishes the requisite technical benchmarks and strategic governance framework to support effectively,” Mr Edet added.

The initiative will be implemented over three years with defined milestones and structured engagement across government, private sector, and international partners.

The partnership reinforces Nigeria’s commitment to leveraging digital infrastructure to drive economic diversification, innovation, and global integration.


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