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Plateau State House of Assembly Passes Two Critical Bills Establishing Legal Institutions

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Plateau State House of Assembly

In a significant move towards enhancing the justice system in Plateau State, the House of Assembly has successfully passed two important bills into law. The first bill establishes the Plateau State Law Reform Commission, while the second bill creates the Plateau State Mediation Centre.

The Deputy Speaker, Fom Gwottson, made this announcement on Sunday, as he revealed that both bills had been passed during separate plenary sessions on July 18, 2023, and July 25, 2023, respectively. The bills were presented to the House by the Chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee, Rt. Hon. Gwottson Dalyop Fom, who had diligently engaged relevant stakeholders in the Justice Sector, government institutions, civil society organizations, and concerned citizens during the formulation process.

The Plateau State Law Reform Commission is vested with a crucial responsibility, primarily to conduct comprehensive research and review all state laws and Local Government bye-laws. The aim is to ensure their continual development and reform in alignment with prevailing norms within the state, the nation, and the international community. This includes the codification of these laws and bye-laws, fostering a more coherent and just legal framework.

On the other hand, the newly established Plateau State Mediation Centre will play a key role in mediating between parties in various disputes, such as landlord and tenant matters, contracts of employment, family disputes, and debt-related issues. Additionally, the center will provide free legal services and advice, with particular attention to assisting the indigent citizens of the state.

Commenting on the passage of these landmark bills, the Plateau state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Philemon Daffi, emphasized their critical importance for the advancement of the state. He noted that with an inherited debt of N307 billion, the onus lies on the new administration to be proactive and creative in establishing platforms that attract resources to the Ministry of Justice from both within and beyond the state’s borders.

The approval of these bills marks a significant milestone for Plateau State, as it showcases the government’s commitment to reforming the legal landscape and providing accessible justice to its citizens. With the establishment of the Law Reform Commission and the Mediation Centre, the state is set to witness a more efficient and effective legal system that aligns with the needs and aspirations of its people.

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New leaders, new fund: Sequoia has raised $7B to expand its AI bets

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Few venture firms have bet more aggressively on AI than Sequoia Capital, and it isn’t slowing down.

The Silicon Valley stalwart has raised roughly $7 billion for a new fund, according to Bloomberg. Sequoia declined TechCrunch’s request for comment. The money will go toward what the firm calls its “expansion strategy” — essentially its late-stage investing arm, focused on the U.S. and Europe — and it’s nearly double Sequoia’s last comparable fund, a $3.4 billion vehicle raised in 2022.

That growth in fund size reflects something bigger: late-stage investing has taken on an entirely new meaning in the AI era. Companies can now scale at a speed and cost that would have been unimaginable a decade ago, and the firms backing them have to keep pace.

The money signals where Sequoia sees the future: deeply embedded in AI, from the giants building the underlying technology to the startups putting it to work. The firm has backed two of the most prominent players in the AI race — OpenAI originally and, more recently, Anthropic — both of which are reportedly eyeing public listings in 2026. The development that could mean a significant payday for the firm.

Sequoia isn’t only swinging for the foundational AI heavyweights, however. It has also placed bets on other buzzy startups, including Physical Intelligence, the Bay Area robotics startup, and Factory, which builds AI agents for enterprise engineering teams.

The fundraise is also the first major capital raise under Sequoia’s new leadership, with Alfred Lin and Pat Grady now serving as co-stewards of the 54-year-old firm.

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Factory hits $1.5B valuation to build AI coding for enterprises

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More than three years after the emergence of generative AI, AI-assisted coding remains by far the most popular and lucrative use case for the technology.

Although multiple companies — including Anthropic, maker of Claude Code, as well as Cursor and Cognition — are already vying for dominance, investors believe there is room for at least one more player.

On Wednesday, Factory, a startup developing AI agents for enterprise engineering teams, announced it had raised $150 million at a $1.5 billion valuation. The round was led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Insight Partners, and Blackstone. Keith Rabois, a managing director at Khosla Ventures, joined the startup’s board.

Factory founder Matan Grinberg told the Wall Street Journal that the company’s key differentiator is its ability to switch between different foundation models, such as Anthropic’s Claude or Chinese AI startup DeepSeek. However, startups like Cursor also don’t rely on a single model to generate code.

Factory’s customers include engineering teams at Morgan Stanley, Ernst & Young, and Palo Alto Networks.

The startup was founded in 2023 after Grinberg, then a PhD student at UC Berkeley, cold-emailed Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire. The two bonded over mutual academic interest. (Maguire’s PhD from Caltech is in the same area of physics Grinberg was studying.)

Maguire convinced Grinberg to drop out and launch Factory, with Sequoia backing the startup at the seed stage.

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