An American firm, GO EB5 Investment for Green Card, is wooing entrepreneurs from Nigeria who have money to invest and desire to secure a future for their families in the United States with a promise of American green cards.
A statement by the Director of Investment Relations at the Chicago branch of the firm, Jessica Carrillo, called on entrepreneurs with $500,000 and above to invest in different fields of the US economy and secure a future for their families.
According to Carrillo, a free workshop will be held in Abuja and Lagos, targeting high net worth investors willing to diversify their portfolio by investing the sum of $500,000 in real estate, hotels, farming and other sectors of the US economy.
She said, “Apart from giving participants a directional purpose in a land full of immeasurable opportunities, their decision to make this investment gives them the benefit of American green cards/citizenship for them and their entire household.
“While the foreign investors get the income from their investments, their children also get to attend American schools like residents and be eligible for scholarships and grants like American citizens. The business persons will also be eligible to build business credit and get loans from America at ridiculous rates over time.”
A recent release by the United States Trade Representative said Nigeria and the US had a long history of productive and mutually beneficial trade and investment ties.
“As the largest market in West Africa and one of the largest economies in Africa, Nigeria plays a central role in the regional economy,” it stated.
The total of the US-Nigeria trade (exports plus imports) was valued at $18.2bn in 2013.
The USTR statement said the US imports from Nigeria were valued at $11.7bn, out of which $11.6bn was crude oil.
The non-oil Nigerian exports to the US under AGOA were given as leather, prepared vegetables, beans, cocoa paste, spices and cassava.
The major US exports to Nigeria, the USTR said, included mineral fuels, vehicles, wheat, machinery and plastics.
It added that the foreign direct investment in Nigeria totalled $8.1bn in 2012, up 53.6 per cent from 2011.