Nigeria files criminal tax charges against Saipem’s local arm over $49.2m claim

Nigeria has filed criminal tax charges against the local arm of Italian energy contractor Saipem, escalating a revenue-enforcement drive against large companies operating in Africa’s biggest oil producer.

The Nigeria Revenue Service alleges that Saipem Contracting Nigeria Limited failed to remit tax obligations of N66.4bn ($48m) plus $938,080 between 2014 and 2019, which the authorities put at about N67.6bn. The six-count charge, filed at the Federal High Court in Lagos, also names two directors: Michele Poggi and Gianni Di Pietro.

Saipem Contracting and the two directors were due to be arraigned before Justice Daniel Osiagor on Friday but were not present in court. Their lawyers told the court they had filed a preliminary objection challenging the charges. The matter was adjourned until 29 June.

The Africa Report asked Saipem to respond to the allegations by the Nigerian revenue authorities, but recieved no reply by the morning of 19 May.

Tinubu pushes for compliance

The case is significant not only because of the size of the claim, but because it targets a long-standing foreign contractor in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry at a moment when President Bola Tinubu’s administration is trying to turn tax compliance into a central plank of fiscal repair.

According to the charge sheet, the company, “while carrying on business and providing taxable services”, allegedly “knowingly and wilfully” made false declarations in its company income tax returns for the years 2014 to 2019.

Prosecutors also allege that the Italian group’s Nigerian subsidiary defaulted on tertiary education tax, capital gains tax, withholding tax, value added tax, stamp duties and the Nigeria Police Trust Fund (NPTF) levy.

The case concerns alleged liabilities that predate Tinubu’s new tax laws. But it lands as Abuja is attempting to overhaul one of the world’s weakest revenue systems. Nigeria’s tax-to-GDP ratio is among the lowest globally, leaving the government heavily dependent on borrowing and oil receipts even as debt-servicing costs squeeze spending on infrastructure and social services.

Speaking at the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali, Rwanda, on Friday, Tinubu defended the administration’s push for stronger tax compliance. “Tax is a priority,” he said, arguing that Nigerians cannot demand better hospitals, roads and public services without accepting a stronger revenue base.

The administration’s new tax regime, parts of which took effect last year with fuller implementation scheduled from January 2026, is intended to simplify multiple levies, improve compliance and widen the tax net. Officials have presented the reforms as a structural reset rather than merely a drive to raise rates.

Wider tax reform

The Saipem proceedings also follow other tax disputes involving major companies in Nigeria’s energy and industrial sectors. In February, the Tax Appeal Tribunal in Lagos upheld a N410m late-return penalty imposed on Oando Deepwater Exploration Nigeria, rejecting the company’s argument that it was not required to file petroleum tax returns because its offshore block had not yet begun producing oil.

In March, Dangote Cement and the Nigerian government opted for an out-of-court settlementover alleged tax liabilities of N2.2bn related to the 2016, 2017 and 2018 fiscal years. The company had disputed the claim, arguing that the plants assessed by the authorities were covered by pioneer-status exemptions granted under Nigerian law.

Another dispute remains pending before the tax tribunal in Lagos between the government and South Atlantic Petroleum Limited, the oil company owned by Theophilus Danjuma, the billionaire former army chief.

Saipem has previously disclosed Nigerian tax-related criminal proceedings involving its local contracting arm. In its 2025 interim report, the Italian group said Saipem Contracting Nigeria had become aware through press reports of two Federal High Court proceedings over alleged tax offences from 2010 to 2014. It said those matters appeared linked to a 2016 tax dispute in which the Federal High Court had ruled in favour of Saipem group companies in 2020.

That history could become relevant if the company’s preliminary objection challenges the new proceedings on grounds of jurisdiction, service, duplication or abuse of process. The court has not yet heard the objection.

Saipem has operated in Nigeria for more than five decades and has worked on some of the country’s most important oil and gas infrastructure projects. In 2020, it led the consortium awarded the engineering, procurement and construction contract for Nigeria LNG’s Train 7 project, with Saipem’s share of the contract valued at about $2.7bn. The charges relate solely to alleged tax obligations between 2014 and 2019 and are unrelated to the Train 7 contract.
(The Africa Report)