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Women group partners KAICIID to Promote Inter-religious Harmony

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JPRM 10th May

In a bid to promote inter-religious harmony in Plateau State, the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID) in collaboration with the Women Initiative for Positive Peace Building Initiative (WOPPI) and Women Peace Builders Network in Nigeria (WOPENN), organized an interreligious conference aimed to empower women in Plateau State to play a more active role in promoting interfaith harmony in their communities.

The interreligious conference themed “The role and importance of women in building a culture of inter-religious harmony in Nigeria” which took place at the JPRM-POCC Conference Hall, Lamingo Road Jos on Wednesday 10th May 2023 in collaboration with The King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue, (KAICIID) supported by Women Initiative For Positive Peace Building Initiative (WOPPI), Women Peace Builders Network in Nigeria (WOPENN) hard in attendance women representing the Muslim and Christian faith in Plateau State and also community leaders.

JPRM Executive Director and also a convener of the event, Eld. Amb Mrs. Justina Ngwobia who is also a KAICIID fellow stated that the Conference is part of an inter-worldview dialogue where women and other stakeholders are trained to interact and dialogue with one another to have peaceful coexistence in their communities and Nigeria as a whole.

“The project is meant to bring in women all over northern Nigeria to discuss issues as it affects them. How can we women as Christians and Muslims relate with one another as people of different faiths, cultures, communities, and backgrounds, share a common grounds where we throw sentiments, interests, politics, and religion apart in such a way that we will come together and dialogue on issues as it affects humanity because what we preach is humanity first before anything else”

In her media address, Mrs. Justina stated that the dialogue process will continue even after the program as there will be meetings with the incoming government and follow-up visits to the women in their various communities.

Hajiya Lantana Bako Abdullahi a co-convener of the initiative stated that the role of women must continuously be emphasized in the area of interigious dialogue, especially in the Northern part of Nigeria where there is more conflict.

“It’s important for women to see that they have what it takes to contribute to nation-building and most importantly in strengthening inter-religious dialogue among the various communities. Part of the outcome of this meeting are two important recommendations that women must demand inclusion in the plateau state inter-religious council as there is no single women representation in the 46-member group which is a great disservice to the contribution and voices of women to the promotion of peace.

Secondly, we need to reach out to the incoming government to discuss agenda-setting on issues are women’s participation in leadership and decision-making process especially in the North and particularly emphasizing affirmative action, and issues of conflict and violence as we are already seeing some resurgence of violence in some northern state which is a clear indication that the newly elected government need to be proactive about peacebuilding.”

Speaking at the event, Prince Charles Dickson, a peace practitioner and policy analyst called on women to support each other as he spoke on the challenges women face in society.

“The conversation about the role of women in peacebuilding has to be amplified and the only way to do that is that women to start telling their stories and be intentional about changing the narrative also women need to start promoting each other and engaging the bigger public with their own stories then we will get a bigger spectrum, in other words, programs like this should be more often and women should be given opportunities like this to interact and tell their stories”

Lead advocate, Plateau Women in Peace and Security Hajihah Fati Sole urged the participants to channel their motherly affinity to influence peaceful and meaningful dialogue to their family and communities at large.

Also speaking, at the event is Hajihah Amina Ahmed, Mrs. Sese Isaiah, Mrs. Brijet Dakes, Mrs. Jennifer Yerima, Chairman, Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Plateau Chapter, and the Moderator member JPRM Mary Bature

At the interaction, the women who were divided into groups were tasked with creating sustainable ideas and action plans that can aid in inter-religious harmony in their various communities and beyond.

Representing the Christian faithful, the chairperson of Plateau state women wing Christian Council of Nigeria (WOWICCN) Dorcas Yusuf Lankat stated that the discussion has helped in identifying ways of bridging the gap between the two major religions in the state, identifying the capacity of women in achieving sustainable peace and the need to make the effort of women more visible.

The Federation of Muslim Women’s Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN) president, Hajiya Kaltume Auwalu, highlighted measures being put in place as a result of the initiative by KAICIID.

She said “A joint prayer session between the Christian and Muslim faithful is already being planned as part of the action plan to ensure peace and interreligious harmony in the state. We also intend to organize football matches between communities.”

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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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