Chief executive officer of the Construction & Housing Mayor Limited, My-ACE China has urged investors to first build peace structures in host communities before starting business.
My-ACE China stated this at the unveiling of the Alesa Vigilante Group to secure the Alesa Eleme area near Port Harcourt, Rivers State and attract investors for socioeconomic development.
The group is part of a development model created by the Mayor of Housing to cause a seamless partnership between the real estate group and the host community ahead of the upcoming Alesa Highlands Sustainable Smart City Project.
The model entails that an upcoming corporate entity becomes a corporate citizen of the host community by creating a blueprint for peace, security, and social development of the area.
Explaining the model, My-ACE China said his passion for housing development made him seek ways of creating synergy between investors and host communities.
“I am a real estate success strategist, and the sobriquet did not come for nothing. It is a name I got on the back of coordinating and exponentially increasing value through collaboration and innovation. And, that is what we are doing here in Alesa.
“Collaboration is what multiplies value for me. It is the way I coordinated values in Abuja that made people start calling me the ‘Governor of Housing’. I said no, Mayor is better than Governor, because Governor is becoming common in Nigeria. It is not a political appointment. It is on the back of merit in development and collaboration.
“One of the reasons is because I do not do development alone. For instance, what informed this peace project in Alesa is because I cannot come into Alesa and develop Alesa into the most sustainable smart city to come to Africa without security, and I cannot secure Alesa without the youths. Interestingly, youths are the most neglected and underrated segment of the populace. It is wise to tap into their latent force and use it as fuel for development,” he said.
The real estate magnet said, any community not just Alesa but across Africa and the world, that does not first get security, peace, and hospitality in terms of waivers and attractive packages that can attract investors, will not develop.
“They have done this to us. They have given us a lot of things that showed me they really wanted us to come in and develop the place. We are thus not doing this project haphazardly, we are doing it with our whole heart and commitment.”
He said the focus is to reverse the infamous Port-Lagos dichotomy. We discovered a trend where workers with the international oil corporations (IOCs) work in Port Harcourt but choose to live in Lagos.
“To solve that is not to pour lamentations over it every day. On our part, we want to tackle that by offering the nation an alternative to Lekki by bringing in a new Banana Island to Port Harcourt to compete with the Banana Island in Lagos.
“Ours is a high-end project, meaning it will attract high net worth personalities around the country and beyond. That is why we are excited by the 20,000-housing project Governor Sim Fubara of Rivers State just launched.”
On the award to him as ‘Hero of Alesa Development’ by the Alesa Community, the Mayor of Housing described it as the most important award he has received.
Leaders in the community hailed the My-ACE China for the initiative and called on investors as well as companies to emulate the Mayor of Housing and to adopt the advanced Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy as an entry and engagement policy.
A community and oil industry union leader, Chief Sunny Nkpe, said what Mayor of Housing is doing is unprecedented in Alesa, adding that the model would help to build lasting relationships between investors and host communities.
The second in command to the king of Alesa, Mene Obarike White, who is the spokesman and staff bearer of the stool, urged other companies to adopt the model for a new era of peace and stability in host communities.
He said: “My impression is, when you come in the name of developing us and you are taking from us for your benefit, it doesn’t make any impact. You buy from me N2 million and you will sell N7 million, just for you to make the money and go away. That is not good. The Mayor of Housing has come to stay and that is the proper thing and this kingdom is behind him.”
On his own, the chairman, Board of Trustees (BOT) of the Alesa Highlands Aboriginal Land Owners, Emmanuel Olaka, joined to say this is the first time the Alesa people were receiving a strong gesture from a company that is coming to their community.
“I want to use this opportunity to let other investors know that this is a community that is ready to work with companies for peace and stability. The Mayor of Housing is not coming to buy and sell land, but is coming to develop the place for us.
I have the blueprint of what is happening there,” Olaka said.
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