AMATO, MWUN Reaffirm COMTUA’s Dissolution, Declare Any Ongoing Activities Illegal

AMATO, MWUN Reaffirm COMTUA’s Dissolution, Declare Any Ongoing Activities Illegal

L-R AMATO Chairman ,Chief Remi Ogungbemi and President General MWUN,Comrade Francis Bunu Abi

By Frank Odinukaeze

Two key players in Nigeria’s maritime and trucking sectors — the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO) and the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) — have jointly reaffirmed that the Council of Maritime Truck Unions and Associations (COMTUA) no longer exists and holds no legitimate standing in the country’s maritime operations.

Speaking to journalists in Lagos, AMATO Chairman, Chief Remi Ogungbemi, and MWUN Head of Media, Kennedy Ikemefuna, reiterated that COMTUA was formally disbanded in 2023 by its founding unions and associations. The move comes in response to recent reports of individuals still parading as COMTUA representatives and attempting to conduct negotiations on behalf of truckers.

“COMTUA has been disbanded. Anyone still presenting themselves as representatives of that body is doing so at their own peril,” Ogungbemi stated firmly.

Echoing the position, Ikemefuna added that the MWUN and other key unions severed all ties with the council nearly two years ago.

“Whoever he is talking to, that is their business because they are no longer with the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria,” he said, warning stakeholders not to engage with any individual or group claiming affiliation with the defunct council.

COMTUA, once an umbrella body representing various trucking unions operating in Nigeria’s maritime corridors, was officially dissolved on July 31, 2023. The decision was collectively made by seven major transport and maritime bodies, including MWUN, AMATO, the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Container Truck Owners Association of Nigeria (COTOAN), and Amalgamation of Container Truck Owners Association of Nigeria (ACTOAN).

At the dissolution event held at the NARTO Secretariat in Lagos, COMTUA’s founding president, Thomson Olaleye, declared that the council had “outlived its usefulness” and ceased to exist upon the expiration of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) that gave it life.

“Consequently, the freedom to associate, under which COMTUA was formed, has ceased upon the termination of the MoU and the body hitherto called COMTUA has died,” Olaleye said.

In a joint communiqué issued at the time, all stakeholders and security agencies were officially informed of COMTUA’s dissolution and were advised to treat any operations or representations made under its name as illegal.

“Whoever parades himself as executive of the body should be treated as an impostor and subsequently arrested,” the unions warned.

With renewed attention on the issue, AMATO and MWUN are now urging maritime stakeholders, law enforcement, and regulatory agencies to remain vigilant and to continue disregarding any activities or representations made in the name of COMTUA.