Project summary

My name is Habeeb Abdul, and I am the Policy Lead for Pause AI Nigeria. I also co-founded AI Safety Hub Nigeria (250+ members) and founded EA ABU. I have recently been invited to attend PauseCon, a training event of PauseAI for the organizers and activists working against risky AI technologies, which takes place from September 5 to September 7, 2026 in London. Participation is free, and PauseAI pays for three day accommodation; however, travel expenses from Nigeria are not paid. I already checked with the event organizers about the possibilities to cover my travelling expenses, and they confirmed that they do not have enough funding to cover my travel expenses.

This request is to finance my return flight and travelling expenses (local transport) in order to participate in PauseCon and gain all the knowledge and skills that will aid in developing and scaling PauseAI Nigeria.

What are this project's goals? How will you achieve them?

The goal is to attend PauseCon in person and return with the organising skills, campaign frameworks, and network needed to grow PauseAI Nigeria into a more active and capable chapter. I'll achieve this by taking part in the full three days of workshops and training sessions, connecting directly with organisers from other PauseAI chapters to learn what has and hasn't worked for them, and bringing that back into concrete next steps for PauseAI Nigeria.

How will this funding be used?

• Return flight, Abuja–London: ~$1,200–$1,500

• Airport transfers and local transport in London: ~$100–$300
  

Who is on your team? What's your track record on similar projects?

This is an individual request, but it's tied directly to the organisations I run.
I'm Policy Lead at PauseAI Nigeria, co-founder and Research and Technical Lead of AI Safety Hub Nigeria (250+ members), and founder of EA ABU. I'm also an AI Evaluation and Safety Research intern at HeyLina.ai (remote), where I've worked on multi-turn actor/judge LLM evaluation harnesses.

Link to PauseAI Nigeria: https://pauseai.ng

What are the most likely causes and outcomes if this project fails?

The most likely failure mode is simply not raising enough money to cover the cost of my return flight, in which case I wont be able to attend the PauseCon.

How much money have you raised in the last 12 months, and from where?

I haven't raised any money in the last 12 months.