In an effort to defuse rising industry tensions over the alleged fraudulent system of the collection of Practitioners Operating Fees (POF), the Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN); Mr. Kingsley Igwe has called for calm over the significant inefficiencies of its consultant, SW Global managing the POF collection process.
This is even as the CRFFN Registrar revealed plans to establish a service center near the ports to provide direct, on-ground support rather than relying solely on phone-based assistance.
Freight forwarders have long been embroiled in POF payment debacle as issues with SW Global’s evolving payment platforms continue to impact their operations. Shipping Position Daily gathered that the council’s consultant, SW Global had constantly changed the POF payment platform about three times with several inefficiencies.
Our correspondent gathered that multiple changes from the initial “Innovate 1 Pay” to the recently adopted “Pay Fix” and now yet another unnamed platform have resulted in numerous instances of unaccounted debits, leaving many customers stranded and frustrated.
Speaking last week with Shipping Position Daily, the Apapa Chapter Financial Secretary of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF); Chukwuemeka Ikeobi described a series of operational lapses by SW Global that have left affected customers in financial limbo.
Ikeobi recounted how SW Global initially managed its payment gateway, “Innovate 1 Pay,” only to encounter persistent failures where transactions from months past were being processed erroneously resulting in funds being deducted from customer accounts.
The NAGAFF Chieftain stressed that over the past two months his office alone has suffered debits exceeding N200,000, with transaction records confirming the discrepancies with no refunds forthcoming.
“I reported this to the council, and we raised the issue of developing a reform policy so that freight forwarders who have been affected can get their monies back. You talk to SW Global or Pay Fix staff; they send you to the bank. The bank confirms the transaction was successful and that the money is in SW Global’s accounts. Yet when you report this, you’re sent back to the bank again. So it leaves you in a loop where you get frustrated and you forget the funds. This has been happening for years now.” Ikeobi explained.
In response to growing concerns, CRFFN Registrar Mr. Kingsley Igwe assured industry stakeholders that the POF issues will be resolved soon. He emphasized that the issue is not fraudulent, but rather the result of a system failure that the council is trying to resolve with the service providers.
The Registrar confirmed that every reported case is being documented and urged affected freight forwarders to submit proof of their transaction discrepancies to facilitate an effective resolution.
Mr. Igwe further revealed plans to establish a service center near the port, aiming to provide direct, on-ground support rather than relying solely on phone-based assistance. This initiative is expected to streamline the resolution process and offer a tangible solution to the long-standing inefficiencies plaguing the system.
“The fault is on our consultants who have abruptly been deficient in the quality of their services. We are aware of it. Like I said, we are documenting all the cases. They might issue now but the issue will not last long. It is not fraudulent.
“It is just the failure of the system and that is what we have been trying to resolve with the service providers. It is SW Global, our consultants, who collect the POF is the one responsible for the inefficiency of the system that we are experiencing now” Igwe noted.
Also speaking, the Tin Can Chapter Public Relations Officer of the Association of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (APFFLON) Mr Clinton Okoro explained that according to his consultation with the Council, initial arrangements allowed a percentage of payments to be allocated to stakeholders using their licenses for transactions, but complications emerged as majority of these payments were made through Point of Sales (POS) machines, which means CRFFN cannot determine the exact license used for these transactions.
Okoro noted that the consultants are now facing issues due to inaccuracies in their accounts. “We discovered that the majority of these payments are made through POS, which means CRFFN cannot even determine the exact license used for these transactions,” he said. This lack of clarity, he added, is a key factor behind the mounting discrepancies.
During the conversation, Okoro indicated that the issue stems from contractors’ accounts not being accurately maintained. He mentioned that the Council has assured that efforts are underway to address these challenges, although progress has been slow.
