2023 Elections: Maritime Operators Seek “Social Contract” with Kwankwaso Over 15million Votes, N91Trillion Investments

By DAPO OLAWUNI

Stakeholders in the Nigerian maritime industry are seeking a social contract with the Presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) Sen Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso on the need to implement a maritime agenda, should he emerge winner in the 2023 Presidential elections.

This Social Contract is being canvassed by Prime Maritime Project (PMP), a Maritime and Transport Logistics-centric solution, interfacing with all the political parties and presidential candidates in the forthcoming 2023 elections.

Speaking at a press conference in Lagos on Wednesday, convener of the PMP, a veteran maritime journalist, Elder Asu Beks states that the maritime industry holds a whooping N91Trillion worth of resources and investments and there are about 15million votes in the sector alone.

Hence, he said that any political party that wants to clinch the presidential seat must reach an agreement with operators on their plan for the maritime sector which has been abandoned over the years.

To this end, the NNPP Presidential flag bearer, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, alongside his running mate, Bishop Isaac Idahosa, and other party stalwarts will storm Lagos on Tuesday, August 23, 2022.

Senator Kwankwaso, who will be the Special Guest in a Town Hall Meeting at the Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja Lagos, will use the opportunity to interact with maritime stakeholders with a view to ascertaining the peculiar needs of this vital but neglected sector of the economy.

The event, slated for 11.00am, will be chaired and moderated by a maritime technocrat, Otunba Kunle Folarin, who is also the Chairman, Nigerian Ports Consultative Council (NPCC).

Speaking at the pre-event press conference in Apapa Lagos on Wednesday, founder of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) Dr. Boniface Aniebonam stressed the need for maritime operators to make NNPP their own, considering the fact that the party is a baby of NAGAFF.

Aniebonam who also doubles as the founder of the NNPP, stated that there is a system breakdown in the country while adding that the new Nigeria desired by Nigerians can be given to them through the NNPP.

He described the presidential candidate of the NNPP as a special breed who can help resolve challenges confronting the maritime sector and the country at large if given the support.

According to him “NNPP is a child of necessity, arriving from what we saw, we decided then while forming this party in 2001, that it is better to fight from inside. So, we have been working for the past 21 years and what you see now is a result of years of sacrifice

“Politicians tell all sorts of lies and nobody is holding them responsible maybe because of the poverty in the land, there is system breakdown and Nigeria has never been divided like this

“Look at it, Apapa is completely down. The hotels are shutting down because there are no roads, but when the going get tough, the tough get going

“We believe God has come to look at Nigeria as an entity. NNPP is a child of circumstance arising from what we saw and we believe it’s better to fight from the inside (maritime industry) because when you have access to the sea you have access to the world.

“Every Nigerian is looking for a new Nigeria and that’s why I believe that God is working with us because our party is NNPP.

“Kwakwanso is a special breed and I believe he will perform wonderfully well” he stated.

Speaking earlier, Elder Asu Beks assured that PMP’s intention is to bring forward all the political parties, in order to have their commitment towards the maritime industry. He however explained that this is only a starting point with the NNPP.

“We feel that this sector cannot be take for granted any longer and so we came up with this idea to challenge the key presidential aspirants as we speak we’ve already sent out letters to them they have the itinerary, when we are going to engage the candidates one after the other and so the first to take up is the NNPP aspirant

“We have invited all the critical stakeholders in the sector to a town hall meeting with the candidate of NNPP

“Also for the past eight years most of the appointees have been politicians and as such we have found it very difficult to drive the sector because they come with their political interests and not the interest of the sector and then we are also saying we are overdue for a maritime ministry so there are lot of issues to be thrown up on that day.

“So if they are satisfied with our request and we are convinced we have about 15 million votes in the sector that will be given to the candidate,” he said.

On his part, Spokesman for PMP, Mr Kingsley Anaroke assured that a lot of maritime operators including terminal operators, shipping companies, truck drivers, freight forwarders among others, have been reached and that the town hall meeting would be one of a kind.

According to him, operators can attend the meeting, irrespective of the political party they belong to.

Anaroke lamented that many of the ports in Nigeria are old and are due for rehabilitation.

He also informed that despite the huge resources and the contribution of the maritime sector to the economy the Nigeria Bureau of statistics (NBS) has not deemed it fit to recognize the sector while stating that the sector should be given the attention it deserves.

“We are saying let’s play this politics with them, if they can offer us what we want we will give them over 15 million votes in the maritime sector” he added.