By Eboagwu Austine N. Monday
Saipem Contracting Nigeria Limited may be treading on slippery grounds over its processes for awarding contracts on the NLNG Train 7 (T7) project which contravenes Local Content laws.
The Train 7 project is a $10billion gas project owned by the Nigerian Liquid and Natural Gas Company (NLNG) 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 at hand suggests that three months into the project, the National Assembly is in receipt of several petitions alleging how Saipem, an Italian company, who is the principal partner in the delivery of the project, has technically excluded qualified Nigerian companies 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 the petitioners proved abortive.
