Breaking! Truck owners, associations, maritime union disband COMTUA.
Breaking! Truck owners, associations, maritime union disband COMTUA.
The six associations in the haulage sub sector of the nation ‘s maritime industry on Thursday, disbanded the controversial Council of Maritime Truck Associations and Unions (COMTUA) in Lagos.
The founders said the disbandment had become necessary because the Council has achieved the purpose for which it was created even as it warned that whoever that trades with the now disbanded body does so at his own risk
The founding fathers council include; Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MWUN), Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) Road Transport Employers Association (RTEAN), Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO), Container Truck Owners Association of Nigeria (COTOAN), Almalgamation of Container Truck Owners Association (ACTOA) and National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW).
Rising from a meeting on Thursday, the pioneer chairman of the Council, Mr. Thompson Olaleye told our correspondent in an exclusive chat that the group was formulated when the traffic situation was making movement of vehicles in Apapa difficult and unanimously dissolved the council.
He added that since the situation of the road had improved due to the introduction of Port Standing Task Team (PSTT) and electronic Truck Call Up system, there is no need for the synergy.
Olaleye however warned that anyone caught trading under the name of the proscribed group, would have himself to blame.
He affirmed “We were six registered associations that came together when the crisis in the port was at its peak about three years ago. The road was completely blocked, a lot of things were happening to our members, then I suggested that we should start the union and we invited maritime workers because they have the ears of the agencies in the port and the President General is my very good friend.
“That is how we signed a memorandum of understanding, Adeyanju and Alogo were the first VOT chairmen while I was the first president and as time went on, different faces started coming in and that was when Yinka Aroyewun also joined and we made him the National Publicity Secretary
But when he started writing frivolous petitions against people that have good reputation in the industry, the first people to pull out was MWUN followed by NARTO, RTEAN and others
Along the line, when I saw that the man wanted to cause problem between me and Adeyanju that we had never had problem before despite the fact that we have known for a long time, I also left and got an interim team to run it. That was where Yinka came in as the president.
“After I left, I began to see National president and there is nothing like that in the issue of COMTUA because it is a collection of registered and established associations under CAC. How can you now become national president?
“The six founding associations came together and said even though they opted out, they should remember that they signed an article of memorandum and understanding and we have not signed out and since we have not signed out, we are still part of the association.
“So, we came together to deliberate whether we still want COMTUA to continue and in the meeting this morning, we put it in form of a motion and we unanimously agreed that we should proscribe COMTUA today.
“So, officially, it has been proscribed today.”
