SAIPEM: Petition floods NASS over Italian firms irregularities in $10 billion NLNG procurement

There appears to be storm ahead for Saipem Contracting Nigeria Limited over its process for awarding contracts on the NLNG Train 7 (T7) project. The Train 7 project is a $10 billion gas project owned by the Nigerian Liquid and Natural Gas Company (NLNG) and is expected to boost the Nation’s gas capacity by 35%.

At the ground breaking event conducted by President Muhammad Buhari in July this year, he stated that the project is expected to create over 12000 direct and 1.2million indirect jobs, with millions of dollars’ worth of activities and contracts within the Train 7 project, executed by Nigerians.

However, information gathered by CAPITAL POST suggests that 3 months into the project, the National Assembly is in receipt of several petitions alleging how Saipem, an Italian company, which is the principal partner in the delivery of the project, has created a system whereby qualified Nigerian companies are excluded in the bidding and award process of contracts, which local content laws has deliberately reserved for Nigerians.

It was further gathered that the National Assembly has commenced investigations into the veracity of the allegations against the Company.

Several efforts to ascertain the exact contents of the petitions or identity of the petitioners proved abortive as at Wednesday.q0pppp