Nigeria’s tax authority, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), has reportedly sealed the Lagos and Abuja offices of fintech giant OPay. The action was taken due to alleged breaches of the Nigeria Tax Act 2025, specifically concerning Value Added Tax (VAT) and Companies Income Tax (CIT) obligations.
According to reports, FIRS officials visited both OPay premises, sealing them and posting official notices. These notices reportedly warned against tampering with or removing the seals without the Executive Chairman of the FIRS’s approval, indicating an ongoing compliance issue between the fintech firm and Nigerian tax regulators.
OPay, a Chinese-backed digital payments company, commenced operations in Nigeria in 2018 and has since grown rapidly to become a leading mobile payment platform in the country. This enforcement action has ignited fresh discussions regarding the operational conduct of foreign-owned technology companies within Nigeria’s burgeoning digital economy.
Public policy analyst Emmanuel Adeniyi, Executive Director of the Coalition for Indigenous Digital Advancement, commented on the situation, stating that “such regulatory disputes are not unusual when foreign technology firms expand quickly into emerging markets.” He further observed that companies often pursue aggressive growth in new markets but tend to resist when regulators begin to scrutinize their financial flows and compliance structures.
This development aligns with increasing global scrutiny of international technology firms, echoing concerns seen with platforms like TikTok during the previous U.S. administration over data security and ownership. In Nigeria, authorities are similarly intensifying their oversight of how foreign digital platforms manage financial transactions and user data within the country’s financial ecosystem.
As regulatory reviews continue, industry stakeholders and millions of users are closely observing the unfolding situation to ascertain how this dispute will be resolved and its potential implications for Nigeria’s digital payments sector.
