By Emmanuel Udodinma
The President of the Council of Maritime Truck Unions and Association (COMTUA) Mr. Adeyinka Aroyewun, has called on the Lagos state government to halt the wilful vandalisation of its members’ trucks by hoodlums on Lagos road.
Speaking during a virtual interactive session with the Maritime Reporters Association of Nigeria (MARAN), Aroyewun disclosed that the association had made several appeals to the Lagos State Government, the Nigeria Police Force as well as the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), over the menace to no avail , which he lamented has impacted negatively on the business of truck owners.
“We have been crying about this and I have made a lot of submissions on this, we have written over 50 letters appealing to the government to weed the vandals off the road”.
He revealed that while some members of the association were insured , others are not insured.
“We are working on this, educating our members on the importance of insurance. We have also written to Nigerian Insurance Association of Nigeria to partner with them to be able to be part of enforcement team and their pubic enlightenment team”.
He said the level damage on the COMTUA’S trucks has been tremendous.
”As we speak, they still vandalized trucks today. They will still vandalize it tomorrow because the extortion points and points of vandalisation have not been removed by the government. “We have seen the Lagos State Government and the NPA were removing shanties and they claimed they were removing hoodlums and extortion points on the roads.
They concluded this on Sunday and everything has returned this morning. “We cannot estimate what we have lost to vandalism.”
He however claimed that COMUTUA has lost over 10 members who were killed this year. Also over 20 members have been seriously injured by the hoodlums. “We are still pleading with the government to ensure that we get justice.”
He said in the amalgamated unions which formed COMUTUA , there are 11 unions and associations as at it stands. “It used to be 7 and 4 have voluntarily tendered their resignation.
“We have 7 other associations that have joined COMUTUA, our national Congress as we do it every year, we take in November.” Aroyewun stated that congestion is still hampering the association’s activities.
“We are reviewing our Memorandum of Understanding from time to time. It’s not about the dissolution of COMUTUA, new members are coming in . While some members feel there is no need to remain in the collaboration, some still see reason to remain in the collaboration. To remain in this, we are forming new alliances with the Lagos State Government.. “COMUTUA is what it was and we are doing everything possible to improve the lives of our people.” he declared.
According to him, membership of COMTUA is guided by the association’s Memorandum of Association. He said any member that breaches the regulation is always sanctioned.
“In 2020, COMTUA expelled the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTNW) for extortion. Before the expulsion, several letters were written to warn them, but they believe they are above the law. “Therefore, COMTUA did not hesitate to expel them from the association.
“Others are sanctioned for not obeying traffic rules and regulations”
He said COMTUA assists the government to ensure that there is sanity on the roads.
