By Chinasa Nwankwo, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
Oru Leonard first visited Bangladesh in 2019 with a government group, unaware he would return to the country multiple times.
The first trip was funded by a government, the second by a business, and the last one last year by a private person.
Leonard described the latest journey as a closer look at how a country once written off as a “basket case” had rebuilt its farms, its factories and its waterways.
According to Leonard, his Bangladesh experience offers direct lessons for Nigeria, a country still searching for the right mix of policy and patience to unlock its own economic potential.
For Leonard, a media and business development practitioner, the story of Bangladesh’s agricultural turnaround does not begin with machinery or subsidies. It begins with financing structures built around the smallest farmers, rather than around the biggest ones.
“If they want a tonne of a particular item, all they need to do is look for a supplier who can provide a full tonne or even half a tonne.”
He said buyers pooled supply from clusters of small-holder farmers rather than waiting on a single large producer.
“So what they do is train them on the standards. And now they have the financing system already.”
The backbone of that system is Bangladesh’s decades-old microfinance sector, pioneered by Grameen Bank.
According to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the bank was built on the idea that the rural poor, long considered too risky to lend to, could be trusted with credit if the lending model was designed around them rather than against them.
Research cited by the Borgen Project found that microfinance participation in Bangladesh reduced moderate poverty by five per cent and extreme poverty by ten per cent among borrowing households, with the effects rippling out to non-borrowers in the same communities.
Leonard is careful to draw a distinction.
“Mind you, I didn’t say funding. Financing system is good, so people can meet up.”
He argued that Nigeria’s agricultural conversation too often centred on one-off government funding rather than sustained, standards-driven financing that kept small farmers in business long enough to grow.
Leonard provides further insights on blue economy.
“It is not all about fishing; it is not all about the water in the sense people think.
“Anything that has to do with water, particularly at the macro scale, is blue economy. I call it water economy.”
He said that Bangladesh’s boat-building and ship-breaking industries were proof of how far the concept of the blue economy could stretch.
“Along the coast near Chattogram, a large port city on the southeastern coast of Bangladesh, dozens of yards dismantle end-of-life ocean vessels for scrap steel industry.
“According to the Chittagong Ship Breaking Yard’s own figures, the facility supplies more than 60 per cent of Bangladesh’s domestic steel demand and generates hundreds of millions of dollars in annual economic output, while employing well over 100,000 workers directly and indirectly.
“They have experts in boat-making and ship-breaking; they study ship-breaking; now they can maintain and build ships.
“They have a protected system in the UK.”
He believes Nigeria’s own nascent blue economy policy, anchored by agencies such as the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), can similarly grow beyond fishing into transport, boat-building and water-linked agriculture, if it is allowed to.
Leonard describes brokering introductions between Nigerian investors and Bangladeshi manufacturers in sectors, like jute, leather and plastics, where Nigeria still relies heavily on imports, and pushing for university-level partnerships in technical and vocational training.
“I suggested a partnership with the university to an investing professor here. He agreed, noting that the open nature of the project offers great potential for capacity building,” he said.
Leonard belongs to an African-Bangladeshi business school network. He insists this business-to-business layer, separate from formal diplomacy, is where the relationship’s future lies.
For Aisha Augie, Director-General of the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation (CBAAC), the deeper opportunity between the two countries lies less in imitation and more in recognition, of how much Nigerians and Bangladeshis already resemble one another.
CBAAC, a specialised Agency under the Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy, dedicated to the promotion and propagation of Black and African cultural heritage in its totality, has hosted Bangladeshi cultural delegations at its Lagos museum and archive.
“I find that very inspiring; it is very easy for us to be able to trade with each other when we are already alike.”
She described both peoples as hardworking and culturally resonant.
Augie pushes back gently against a global habit of ranking nations as “first world” or “third world,” arguing that the label obscures how much countries outside that hierarchy can teach each other.
“The more we amplify the stories that make it work, the things that they are doing right, the more we are able to connect and unify ourselves,” she said.
Recently, both countries pledged to explore new frontiers in agriculture and trade in order to deepen bilateral cooperation and unlock economic opportunities during the 55th Independence Anniversary and National Day of Bangladesh in Abuja.
Mr Miah Kabir, Bangladeshi High Commissioner to Nigeria, spoke at the event.
He said there was need to unlock untapped economic opportunities and stronger collaboration in agriculture, particularly contract farming that would ensure mutual benefits.
Kabir said that Bangladesh’s experience in high-yield, climate-resilient farming, combined with Nigeria’s large agricultural base, offer a pathway to enhanced food security and economic growth.
“Bilateral trade between Bangladesh and Nigeria is growing steadily, yet we firmly believe that we have many things to achieve further.
“We believe we are yet to achieve the true potential of our relationship in terms of trade and investment.
“Bangladesh offers competitive priced, high-quality products in textiles and garments, pharmaceutical, ceramics, processed foods, and ICT services.
“Nigeria, with its vast market, energy resources, and agricultural land, presents significant opportunities for bilateral trade farming in agriculture is a compelling new avenue.
“Bangladesh’s expertise in high-yield, climate-adaptive cultivation combined with Nigeria’s vast arable land and expanding agro-processing sector creates a mutually beneficial foundation for mutual benefit,’’ he said.
Ultimately, analysts say that by using smart funding, utilising river waterways for industry, and letting local communities lead growth, Bangladesh achieved a success that Nigeria can emulate to drive its own development.(NANFeatures)
Edited by Chijioke Okoronkwo