By Oluyinka Onigbinde
Findings by Shipping Position Daily have uncovered a deepening controversy in Nigeria’s freight forwarding sector, as allegations mount over mismanagement of funds generated through the Practitioners Operating Fee (POF). At the centre of the storm is SW Global, the technology firm contracted as the technical partner to the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN).
The firm; SW Global has been the sole technical consultant to CRFFN from inception, hence the sole collector pf the POF accruals. The firm is now being accused of failing to remit billions of naira that have been collected so far, to the CRFFN
Multiple stakeholders, including customs licensed agents and freight forwarders as well as members of the CRFFN Governing Council, have raised serious concerns over what they describe as a “mysterious and opaque” revenue collection process. Messrs SW Global, they allege, has not been transparent in the remittances from the POF collections to either the Council or the freight forwarding associations since the inception of the scheme.
Investigations by Shipping Position Daily reveal that despite years of active collections and repeated calls for transparency, neither CRFFN nor the freight forwarders have received a clear account of the amount collected or how the funds have been managed.
In a recent press interaction, the presidents of four out of the five accredited freight forwarding associations under CRFFN — the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), National Association of Freight Forwarders and Consolidators (NAFFAC), National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), and the Association of Registered Freight Forwarders Nigeria (ARFFN) — all confirmed that no remittance has been made to their associations or individual members.
Confirming the allegation, President of ANLCA, Mr. Emenike Nwokeoji, stated that, “I have not received a kobo from the POF, either for the association or as an individual. No single penny has been paid to me or any member of our association to the best of my knowledge.”
His remarks were echoed by other association leaders who expressed frustration over the total lack of openness in fund disbursement and the disregard for the agreed sharing formula between CRFFN, SW Global, and freight forwarders.
Although his association was not at the joint press briefing, a prominent member of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) Mr. Stanley Ezenga, added weight to the allegations. In a chat with our correspondent last week, he recalled that when the POF scheme was introduced, the agreed sharing formula was 65:35, which was later adjusted to 65:30:5, with freight forwarders expected to receive a share. However, he said, there is no record of these remittances being made.
“We have been paying, and whenever we meet, we ask questions. But anytime you ask your colleagues if they have received any money, the answer is always No. I personally have not received a single naira,” Ezenga said. “If the current CRFFN Registrar says he doesn’t know how much has been collected, then there’s no record. That suggests the money may have gone elsewhere”, he alleged.
Ezenga, while supporting the POF in principle as a tool for capacity building through training and retraining of freight forwarders, said the current implementation lacks transparency and accountability.
“The idea behind POF was noble. It was to enhance professionalism. But the use of the funds is now questionable. CRFFN has not lived up to expectations. The essence of regulation is missing,” he lamented.
Similarly, Mr. Babatunde Mukaila, former National Secretary of ANLCA, called for a full investigation by the appropriate authorities.
“Let the authorities investigate what has transpired, especially why all the declarants have not been paid their dues. There was an agreement that a percentage of the funds collected from declarants would be returned to them, but that has not happened,” Mukaila said.
He estimated that his company alone is owed over ₦5 million in remittances that were never paid, despite having fully complied with the POF payment process.
“I paid diligently, and they collected all our data supposedly for seamless remittance, but nothing came. Even our association, while I was in office, was supposed to benefit — nothing happened. The contractor must explain what went wrong,” he added.
The CRFFN Registrar, Mr. Kingsley Igwe, has also publicly admitted that the Council is unaware of how much has been collected by SW Global so far. He revealed that the Council is considering terminating the company’s contract and overhauling the collection system to ensure greater accountability.
Igwe acknowledged that despite the current challenges, freight forwarders have continued to comply with the payment of the POF at port terminals. He assured that efforts are underway to build a more transparent and user-friendly collection system once the SW Global contract expires.
Efforts by Shipping Position Daily to obtain a response from SW Global proved abortive. A formal request was sent to the company email address, for details on total collections, remittances made to CRFFN, entitlements due to freight forwarders, and any operational challenges encountered. As of press time, no response had been received.
The POF scheme, introduced in 2019, faced strong resistance from freight forwarders at inception. The Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) also initially expressed caution, especially over the impact the fee would have on cargo movement and cost of doing business at the ports.
However, in a letter dated January 6, 2020, then-Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, gave formal approval for the full enforcement of the scheme. Under the regime, CRFFN projected annual revenues between ₦5 billion and ₦10 billion, with importers required to pay ₦3.50 per tonne of general cargo, ₦1.50 per kilogram for air cargo, ₦1,000 per 20-foot container, and ₦2,000 per 40-foot container.
