The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) is working assiduously to woo over 15 million people working in the maritime subsector of the Nigerian economy for the presidential candidate of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), Sen. Rabiu Kwakwanso.

Speaking at a press conference organized by Prime Maritime Project (PMP), a maritime and transport logistics organization, on Wednesday, the Founder of  NAGAFF, Dr. Boniface Aniebonam urged all players and stakeholders in the maritime sector to support Sen. Kwakwanso to become the next president of Nigeria come 2023.

Aniebonam who also doubles as the founder of the NNPP averred that there is a system breakdown in the country and that the new Nigeria desired by Nigerians can only manifest through the NNPP government.

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

He stated that NNPP has been working for the past 21 years and that what is being seen now is a result of years of sacrifice.

According to Aniebonam, “politicians tell all sorts of lies and nobody is holding them responsible, maybe because of the poverty in the land.

There is a 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 gets 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.”

He said that every Nigerian is looking for a new Nigeria and that’s why everyone should support New Nigerian Peoples Party.

The founder of NNPP described Kwakwanso as a special breed that he believes would perform wonderfully well.

Speaking earlier, one of the organizers of the event, Mr Asu Beks, who is a maritime journalist, hinted that the resources in the maritime sector is worth over N91 trillion and as such, there is a need to engage all the presidential aspirants as to how they intend to resolve the challenges in the maritime sector.

Asu Beks said that the subsector cannot be taken for granted any longer which informed the decision to come up with the idea to challenge the key presidential aspirants.

He disclosed that letters have already been sent out to the presidential candidates.

He added that the candidates have the itinerary of when his group would engage them one after the other, saying that the first to take up is the NNPP touch bearer.

“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 a lot of issues to be thrown up on that day.”

On his part, Mr Kingsley Anaroke lamented that many of our ports 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 these politics with them, if they can offer us what we want, we will give them over 15 million votes in the maritime sector,” he stated.

The PMP will engage Kwakwanso at a forum next week Tuesday in Lagos.

The forum is expected to offer the Kwakwanso the opportunity to enter into a social contract with maritime players on what they should expect from the NNPP government should the party come into power in 2023.

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