COMTUA Moves Against Multiple Taxation, Says N10,000, N15,000, N30,000 Illegal Levies Killing Truckers – Heads To Court To Stop VAT Duplication<\/p>\n
By Ambrose Obioma Okehi (News Emperor)<\/p>\n
The Council of Maritime Transport Unions and Associations (COMTUA) has declared a total war against multiple taxation and illegal levies imposed on truck owners in the maritime sector, insisting that levies of N10,000, N15,000 and N30,000 per truck per trip are illegal and amount to double VAT and extortion.<\/p>\n
The President of COMTUA, Prince Adeyinka Aroyewun, made the declaration on Wednesday, September 17, 2026, during his Presidential Address at the 2026 Convention and Induction of New Affiliates held at City Pulse, LTV 8, Oregun, Lagos.<\/p>\n
Aroyewun, who spoke on the theme of survival and resistance to extortion, said COMTUA was born out of necessity to fight extortion, double taxation, harassment of drivers and disunity among truck owners.<\/p>\n
According him, focusing on the VAT and illegal taxation crisis, the COMTUA President accused other associations and Lagos State Government-backed groups of imposing illegal dues under different names.<\/p>\n
He recalled that after the failed attempt by the Lagos State Ministry of Transportation to foist NAMTOP – Nigerian Association of Maritime Truck Operators – on the industry, the state created another group, LASTCOC – Lagos State Trucking Operations Committee.<\/p>\n
“We told them: You cannot regulate maritime trucking from Alausa without carrying the real stakeholders along. You cannot impose dues and levies without law,” Aroyewun said.<\/p>\n
He lamented that what followed was the imposition of illegal levies of N10,000, N15,000 and N30,000 per truck, per trip, by different touts in uniform, all in the name of state and association levies, in addition to VAT and other federal taxes already paid by operators.<\/p>\n
“We said NO. And we went to court. That is why we have litigations. We are not litigants by choice; we are defenders of our members’ economy,” he declared.<\/p>\n
Aroyewun disclosed that COMTUA’s case, Suit No. FHC\/L\/CS\/545\/2025 – Adeyinka Aroyewun & Others for and on behalf of COMTUA VS AGF, NPA, FIRS & Others – is specifically instituted to stop multiple illegal taxation, including duplication and misapplication of VAT and service charges on maritime truckers.<\/p>\n
According to him, truckers already pay VAT to the Federal Government through FIRS, pay to NPA and other agencies, yet still face state and association levies that have no legal backing.<\/p>\n
He said the Council has been vindicated by the Nigerian Ports Economic Regulatory Agency (NPERA), which just last week ordered the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO) to refund N300,000 extorted from COMTUA members at Zarmmak Terminal.<\/p>\n
“That is what COMTUA does – we protect. We will push for a workable Unified Electronic Call-Up and Unified Levy – one payment, one ticket, no extortion. No more double VAT, no more illegal collection,” he assured.<\/p>\n
Talking about the activeness of the group, the president used the occasion to debunk propaganda that COMTUA does not exist or has been dissolved.<\/p>\n
“Other associations and groups who profit from disunity have attacked this collaboration. They went to CAC to search for us as an association, forgetting we are a Council and Collaboration of already registered entities. When they did not find us, they started propaganda that COMTUA does not exist. They sponsored resignation of some weak members and circulated a fraudulent letter of dissolution of COMTUA. I stand before you today to say: Can you dissolve what you did not form? COMTUA was not dissolved. It can never be dissolved by press statement. Our MOU remains binding. We survived it,” he said.<\/p>\n
He stressed that despite the attacks, COMTUA has grown from 5 associations at inception to over 9 associations and over 20 corporate haulage companies, with new groups like COMTUA Haulers Association (CHAN) applying to join just last month.<\/p>\n
On legal status, he said a Magistrate Court victory has affirmed COMTUA’s right to exist and operate, while its Trade Union registration with the Federal Ministry of Labour is at an advanced stage and is expected to be concluded before December 2026.<\/p>\n
The President assured that COMTUA will establish a Welfare and Legal Aid Fund for members who are detained or extorted and will never allow LASTCOC or any group to impose illegal dues on its members again.<\/p>\n
“Today is not just an induction. Today is a statement that COMTUA is alive, COMTUA is intact, and COMTUA is the future of maritime transport unionism in Nigeria,” he concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
COMTUA Moves Against Multiple Taxation, Says N10,000, N15,000, N30,000 Illegal Levies Killing Truckers – Heads To Court To Stop VAT Duplication By Ambrose Obioma Okehi (News Emperor) The Council of Maritime Transport Unions and Associations (COMTUA) has declared a total war against multiple taxation and illegal levies imposed on truck owners in the maritime sector, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsemperormagazines.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsemperormagazines.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsemperormagazines.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsemperormagazines.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsemperormagazines.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3531"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsemperormagazines.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3531\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3533,"href":"https:\/\/newsemperormagazines.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3531\/revisions\/3533"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsemperormagazines.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsemperormagazines.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsemperormagazines.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsemperormagazines.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}