A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Anthony Idigbe, has said the poor rating of the Nigerian passport is a major constraint for businessmen operating on the global level.

He noted that such businessmen may have difficulty travelling abroad for businesses due to visa delay.

He added since there are foreign investors doing business in Nigeria, Nigerians can as well invest abroad.

Idigbe spoke last week at a seminar on Victoria to promote the St. Kitts and Nevis’ Citizenship by Investment Programme.

The programme encourages Nigerians to acquire the citizenship of St. Kitts and Nevis by investing $400,000 in the island’s real estate or donating $150,000 into the country’s Sustainable Growth Fund in exchange for citizenship.

The Chief Executive Officer, Citizenship by Investment Unit Government of St. Kitts and Nevis, Mr Les Khan, said a holder of the island’s passport can travel to 158 countries visa-free.

Asked why he would encourage Nigerians to invest abroad, Idigbe, who is one of the facilitators of the seminar, said, “Globalisation is about free movement of capital and foreign investors are investing every day. If you have the capital, you can invest anywhere in the world.

“If you look at the Nigerian Stock Exchange about 61 per cent of the investment is foreign investors putting their money in Nigeria. So, why shouldn’t Nigerians also invest in other places.

“There are different reasons why people invest abroad; sometimes you want to diversify your portfolio. The other issue is globalisation and unfortunately, the state of our passport is very bad. If you look at the ranking of the Nigerian passport, is very bad.

“For a mobile businessman in Nigeria today, you don’t want visa problems. If you apply for visa to some countries, they hold your passport for three weeks; meanwhile, you have a meeting next week. So, these are the issues.

“And the constitution allows you to have dual citizenship. I am a very patriotic person; I love Nigeria but I am operating globally and I tell people that my investments in Nigeria are doing well; I have close to a hundred people working for me in Nigeria; so, I am contributing to the economy.”

He noted that compared to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product of less than $2,000, St. Kitts and Nevis, a small island country in the West Indies, has a GDP of $17,000.

“The quality of life is not the same,” he said.