ATOPCON Moves To Sharpen Members’ Skills

The Association of Town
Planning Consultants of Nigeria (ATOPCON), has said that there was need for consultants to enhance their skills in order to remain relevant and give the professional town planners an edge in all town planning jobs.
The consultants made this declaration at the 2016 Professional Development Workshop Organised by the association in Lagos last week.
The consultant feared that they might be losing out in getting the required recognition if they did not do anything about improving themselves while discussing on the 2016 theme, Cutting Edge Competitiveness in Professional Practice.
In his welcome address, the President of the association, Mr Okide Afolabi, said it was an opportunity for members to refresh and imbibe new ideas and knowledge and discuss issues and problems of mutual interests as it concerned the practice of their profession and keep faith with one of the association’s constitutional requirements.
He explained that ATOPCON was established to organise annual professional development workshops to sharpen their skills in deploying technologies to improve practice/service delivery relationship.
Afolabi said that,” putting all the ideas and concepts that will be presented and discussed at this workshop to practice is then a task before us all as I hope that everyone would take the results of this programme to develop our noble profession in their respective offices.”
The immediate past president, ATOPCON, Mr Moses Ogunleyi, who spoke on “Developing Business Strategy for Town Planning Consultancy,” reminded his colleagues that the dynamics in the internal and external environment in which the consultant operates required that they get prepared for eventualities.
He said, although the Nigerian business environment is very harsh, practitioners that are strategic in their operation have a high probability to not only survive but also thrive. Firms need to review, evaluate, redefine or refine their practices. Each business strategy is distinct and unique.”