U.S.-based fund manager, Pecora Capital announced it is raising a $2 billion fund to invest in infrastructure projects in agriculture, transportation, and telecommunications in Nigeria, reports Business Day Online. The fund, which  will be based in the Cayman Islands, will be raised over the next 18 months and will target investors from the U.S., Asia, and Europe.

Plummeting global oil prices have taken a toll on Nigeria’s economy, which has shifted into contraction in the first quarter of this year. Oil prices have fallen by more than 50% since 2014 cutting the supply of foreign currency in the country that relies on oil exports for 90% of its foreign exchange earnings and 70% of government revenues.

Additionally, militant attacks on the country’s oil pipelines have intensified the country’s economic difficulties while investors are becoming increasingly disillusioned.

These challenging conditions, however, do not pose a roadblock for Pecora. “As a long-term investor we see a time of crisis as an opportunity,” Aaron Smith, Managing Director of Pecora, told Reuters. Mr. Smith foresees the fund achieving returns of 25% per year over its 7-year term, stating, “The fundamentals and demographics in Nigeria, in terms of population, in terms of infrastructure deficits, all offer huge opportunity and the availability of high returns.”

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Florida, Pecora is a global investment management firm, however being privately owned, the firm does not disclose its assets under management or its performance history.

Nigeria’s dependence on oil came at the cost to its once-thriving agriculture sector. In the 1960s Nigeria was a global agricultural producer with agricultural exports being the country’s key foreign exchange earner between 1962 and 1968, according to Forbes. The country was the world’s top exporter of palm oil, exported 47% of its groundnut crop outranking both Argentina and the U.S., and accounted for 18% of the world’s cocoa supply, which today has fallen to 8%.

Although lost in the country’s shift toward oil dependence, Nigeria’s minister for agriculture, Akinwumi Adesina, is aiming to attract foreign investment in order to return Nigeria to its standing as a key player in the global agriculture sector.

“Agriculture is the future of Nigeria. And agriculture that is modernized, that is productive, that is competitive. We must be a global player,” he told Forbes.

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Lynda Kiernan