The BBC ran a report yesterday about the Caribbean island nations that offer a passport to those rich enough to invest in property or other forms of investment in those nations to the tune of $200,000+. Those countries include Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, and St Lucia.
According to the BBC, “Ukraine, Turkey, Nigeria and China are among the other most frequent countries of origin of applicants.” The report goes on to say: “Aside from buying property, other routes to Caribbean citizenship through investment typically include a one-off donation to a national development fund or similar. They range from $200,000 in Dominica for a single applicant, to $250,000 for a main applicant and up to three qualifying dependents in Dominica and St Kitts. In Antigua, investors also have the option of donating $260,000 to the University of the West Indies”.
Incidentally, President Bola Tinubu visited St Lucia for eight days from the end of June where he announced that a “scholarship programme for students from the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) to study in Nigerian universities will commence in the next academic year.” We are not aware if Tinubu has a St Lucian passport or was fishing for one. But many “politically exposed persons” (PEPs) from Nigeria have taken advantage of what is known as citizenship by investment (CBI), especially in the dying days of the Goodluck Jonathan regime, when there was some dread that the incoming Muhammadu Buhari regime would keep their promise to fight corruption.
No place for saints: Tinubu in St Lucia
One such PEP was current senate president Godswill Akpabio, who was being investigated by the anti-corruption agency, EFCC, for looting 100bn naira from his time as governor of oil-rich Akwa Ibom State between 2007-2015. Akpabio secured a St Kitts and Nevis passport for about $250,000 in case he needed to flee Nigeria. There are unconfirmed reports that Rotimi Amaechi, the former governor of Rivers State and former transport minister, a few of his cronies, also secured passports for one of those islands.
Akpabio didn’t leave Nigeria in the end. Instead he left Jonathan’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for Buhari’s All Progressives Congress (APC) and not much progress was made since on the corruption investigation against him.
He has since become closer to Tinubu and been elevated to the presidency of the Senate, without a whisper from the EFCC, and no need to dust off his St Kitts and Nevis passport, as being senate president means he can make his foreign trips on a Nigerian diplomatic passport.
