Benin City - Mediaage NG News – Shelter Conference is aimed towards improving the living conditions of residents, especially those in the south south region of the country, setting them on the path to having a better life. These are the words of the convener, Arc. Cecilia Atohengbe, a housing advocate.
She said lot of conferences have been holding across the country that include Abuja, Lagos, Portharcourt, Kano, and Kaduna, with little or none taking place in the south south region. Therefore, driving this conference along the region is important.
“Not much has been happening here and there’s a huge need to start making it happen “, she said.
The Shelter Conference she said provides the opportunity for like minded persons to team up as consortiums or networks to improve housing conditions in the region and the country as a whole.
While speaking with the press on Tuesday, she was spoke emphatically on collaboration, saying it benefits all parties involved than monopolization.
In her words, “there may be some players doing this in their corners, some are unapproved by the government, but, don’t know that something like this is happening around them. Now, with the awareness this event terms to create, they can formidably enforce and drive housing and collaborate, which makes it an all win situation, thereby making much happen in this region.
“We are looking at how we can have a consortium of professionals that key players and stakeholders can go to for licensing and government approval towards their businesses in the built environment. There can be different consortiums of professionals available, this creates healthy competition and where there’s a healthy competitive environment, we will all do and grow well.
“When and where there is monopoly, it does not bring out the best in us.
“Healthy competition brings out the best and rubs off well on the society because, it entails better services.
“Collaborating she said, will help create wealth because, it is a supply chain that will create employment.
“Somebody that is trying to do business somewhere within the built environment and experiencing challenges, maybe as a result of lack of finance but, by the time they now see that funding and partnership can come when collaborating with different companies, will do well and employ people.
“The people it employs will spend money in the market, they will rent better houses. They will also give money to their family members. So, there is a circle of wealth when the aim and objectives of this conference materialize. It will ensure that there’s continuous discuss”, she said.
Her passion for the Shelter Conference, a yearly event, is not money driven but, born out of the desire to see that over 3,000 houses will be made available and easily accessible, and this she said can be achieved through collaborating with different players in the built environment and this can be provided through the platform offered by Shelter Conference.
“It will also be a platform where the experienced and experts in the built industry will lend their voices and opinions from different angles and views that will stimulate the industry better”, she said.
“The Shelter Conference is not just a show, it is held for a specific purpose which is to drive the industry and encourage what is good to happen. We are doing our best to ensure that this forum will make more people to meet because we would never had known about organising this conference if we had not been attending others”.
While confirming that the conference offers developers the opportunity to showcase in exhibition what they have, including those that never knew something like this is happening, Arc. Atohengbe said the event needs more sponsors to become more interesting because her motive is based on encouraging people.
“God is already showing me that this is His project and from what I have seen so far, I can’t explain what is happening”, she concluded.