Mr. Akinwumi Adesina
After all the politics and “politricks”, a former Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture Mr. Akinwumi Adesina has been re-elected as the President of the African Development Bank AfDB. The Nigerian made history as the first President of the bank to be reelected with 100% vote.
Adesina emerged the winner unopposed at a virtual Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Bank which held Thursday August 27, 2020. The head of the African bank had appealed Wednesday for a second term in office after a months-long storm over alleged corruption and poor governance which ended after he was cleared in an independent probe.
Speaking at the AfDB’s through a statement, Mr. Adesina stated that his second term request was being done ‘’with an acute sense of duty and commitment.” He added: “I do it to serve Africa and our bank, in an unbiased way, to the best of the abilities that God has given me.’’
The former Minister was first elected to the exalted position in 2015 AfDB is one of the world’s five biggest multilateral lenders. Mr Adesina attracted wide recognition last October when the AfDB secured $115 billion (105 billion euros) in funding pledges – a move that doubled the Baks’s capital and entrenched its triple-A credit rating. The re-election of Adesina to the peak office of the 56-year-old bank was considered as a formality as he was the only contesting candidate.
