General
Obafemi Awolowo Foundation to Honour AfDB President Today
By Enyi Ejike-Umunnabuike and Maryam Nwachukwu
Dr Akinwumi Ayode Adesina, the current President and Chairman of the Council of the 20-member Board of the African Development Bank (AfDB) is an urbane man of all seasons. He is an intellectually over-achieving personality, with a high affinity for creativity, uncommon value-addition, skilled corporate governance competencies, a rounded knowledge base, experience, brilliance and intelligence.
Before 2015, he was Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.
During his period of development administrative stewardship, under President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s administration, Adesina left a highly enthralling scorecard as a political appointee of government, who was able the manage the positive gains of the electoral successes of that administration, achieving lots of feats, amidst very compelling and challenging circumstances.
Perhaps, the successes and lasting impressions that he left behind as Nigeria’s Minister provided a very unbiased career-premised evaluative template that found him worthy of selection and eventual endorsement as the most competent of all the candidates that vied for the exalted position.
This well-cultured, disciplined humble balanced personality will on March 6, 2024 (today), be honoured by the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation at the Lagos Continental Hotel with the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo Prize for Leadership.
As a tie-back to history, it will be recalled that the Obafemi Awolowo Prize for Leadership was first announced in December 2012, with the official award ceremony held on March 6, 2013.
Before Dr Adesina was announced as its fourth recipient, three other distinguished personalities had been conferred with the same award.
These include the Noble Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka; former South African President, Dr Thabo Mbeki; and the founder of the Afe Babalola University, Aare Afe Babalola.
A very significant aspect of this event is that it also coincides with the birth anniversary of the late foremost nationalist and statesman in whose memory the award was instituted.
The award is an initiative of the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation, set up in April 1992, to serve as the custodian of Chief Awolowo’s intellectual property and leadership legacy values and norms.
Established as an independent, non-profit, non-partisan organisation dedicated to immortalizing the democratic and development-oriented ideals of Awolowo, the organizers of the event, say the award is a “prestigious, biennial, international prize structured to follow a rigorous process of nomination and subsequent screening by a Selection Committee consisting of some of the most outstanding Nigerians”.
They further said that the prize serves as a strong motivational incentive for persons to pursue excellence in leadership and good governance. The award confers considerable honour and recognition to the recipient.
Speaking on the selection process which led to the choice of Adesina as the 2023 recipient, the foundation spokesperson Mrs Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosunmu, said the call for nomination for the award was published for several months in 2023 and at the close of entries, many nominations of eminent persons were received, with Dr Adesina emerging as a unanimous candidate for the 2023 award.
Expressing his delight about the award and being in the company of previous eminent recipients, Dr Adesina, who has a Five Point Blueprint for repositioning the AfDB, said, “I am delighted to have been selected as a recipient of the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo Prize for Leadership.
“Joining Nobel Prize laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka and former President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, as well as Aree Afe Babalola as prior winners of the prize is such a great honour,” he said.
Adesina, who simply describes himself as a ‘Kenyan, is the eighth elected President of the AfDB and the first Nigerian to be so elected to the position, having been elected on May 28, 2015, for the first time by the bank’s Board of Governors at its Annual Meetings held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
He was re-elected for a second term in 2020 following an excellent performance acknowledged by supporters and critics alike.
The agenda of Adesina’s presidency at the AfDB with the ambition to Feed Africa, Light Up Africa, Industrialise Africa, Integrate Africa and Improve the Quality of Life in Africa, was particularly lauded by the organisers as capable of putting the development of the continent directly in the hands of its people.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria–China Strategic Partnership (NCSP) recently hosted a high-level delegation from Newryton International Industrial Development Company Limited, a leading Chinese investment and industrial development consortium, to advance discussions on deepening bilateral trade, industrial cooperation, and development financing between both countries.
The Newryton delegation, led by Mr David Chen, Assistant Secretary-General of the China Hainan Investment Council, had earlier engaged with the Nigerian Association of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA). They were accompanied to the NCSP by Mr Joe Onyuike, Vice-Chairman of NACCIMA’s Agriculture and Livestock Trade Group, who conveyed NACCIMA’s support for the delegation’s engagements.
Discussions centered on the establishment of a Nigeria–China Trade and Investment Platform, including a proposed Promotion Centre in China to support Nigerian products, investors, and state governments.
The consortium also presented opportunities within Hainan Province’s Free Trade Port (FTP), which offers preferential policies that Nigerian businesses can leverage to expand exports and attract new investments.
In his address on behalf of Newryton, Mr Pong outlined plans to collaborate with NCSP in accessing FOCAC-supported financing for strategic investments in agriculture, energy, mining, solid minerals processing, and related sectors. The delegation identified aquaculture as a key area of interest and referenced the forthcoming Global Aquaculture Conference in Hainan Province, encouraging Nigerian stakeholders to participate.
They also expressed readiness to strengthen cooperation in vocational training and employment under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Welcoming the delegation on behalf of the Director-General, Martins Olajide, NCSP’s Head of Internal Operations, reaffirmed the organisation’s commitment to fostering mutually beneficial partnerships.
He highlighted NCSP’s strong interest in the proposed Nigeria–China Trade and Investment Platform and the development of the Nigerian Oil Palm Industrial Park as a flagship demonstration project.
Also speaking at the meeting, Ms Judy Melifonwu, NCSP’s Head of International Relations, underscored the opportunities presented by China’s zero-tariff policy and the forthcoming NAQS–GACC protocol on the export of Nigerian aquaculture products. She noted that these frameworks would significantly enhance Nigeria’s competitiveness in emerging global markets.
Both parties expressed commitment to advancing discussions toward a structured cooperation framework covering all priority areas.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The United Kingdom–Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Facility (UKNIAF), established in 2019 as part of a 16-year legacy of UK-funded infrastructure support to Nigeria, convened over 100 senior stakeholders on Tuesday, December 2, to review its progress and formally close out its current phase of operations.
The event brought together representatives from federal and state governments, development partners, development finance institutions, and the private sector to reflect on UKNIAF’s work across the power, infrastructure finance, and roads sectors. Discussions focused on institutional reforms, capacity development, and the sustainability of tools and processes introduced over the past six years.
Since inception, UKNIAF has delivered targeted technical assistance designed to embed evidence-based reforms, data-driven decision-making, and improved institutional performance. Its interventions have mobilised significant financing, strengthened regulatory and planning systems, and enhanced investor readiness across multiple infrastructure markets.
In the power sector, participants highlighted landmark achievements including the development of Nigeria’s first Integrated Resource Plan, which outlines a least-cost and low-carbon pathway for expanding electricity supply. UKNIAF also supported the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) in building advanced real-time data capabilities for tariff monitoring, grid management, and outage tracking. The programme enabled pioneering states to establish their own electricity markets following constitutional reforms.
In infrastructure finance, UKNIAF was recognised for strengthening project preparation systems and enabling access to capital. Notable accomplishments include supporting the mobilisation of $75 million from the African Development Bank to the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone (SAPZ) programme in two states, and accelerating mini-grid and solar deployment through improved technical standards at the Rural Electrification Agency (REA).
UKNIAF also designed a national project preparation facility, for which N21 billion was allocated in both the 2024 and 2025 budgets to build a pipeline of bankable projects.
Speaking on this, Mr Frank Edozie, UKNIAF Team Lead, described the programme’s close-out as a “handover for sustained delivery,” emphasising that strengthened institutions now hold tools that make Nigeria’s infrastructure landscape more transparent, climate-smart, and investor-ready.
On his part, the Minister of Power, Mr Adebayo Adelabu, commended the programme, noting that its technical assistance and advisory services had helped lay the foundation for a sustainable and inclusive electricity supply industry.
Mrs Cynthia Rowe, Head of Development Corporation at the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in Nigeria, praised the partnership, highlighting achievements ranging from state-level electricity market reforms to unlocking major financing and designing Nigeria’s Climate Change Fund.
Enugu State Secretary to the State Government, Professor Chidiebere Onyia, underscored the lasting influence of the programme, stating that UKNIAF’s impact continues through the expertise and leadership transferred to national and sub-national institutions.
The close-out event reaffirmed stakeholders’ commitment to sustaining tools, reforms, and knowledge products developed under UKNIAF, while strengthening collaboration among public, private, and development actors in the infrastructure ecosystem.
Participants included federal and state agencies such as the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Federal Ministry of Power, Ministry of Finance, NERC, REA, and the Transmission Company of Nigeria, alongside development partners including the African Development Bank, World Bank, and IFC, as well as private sector and civil society stakeholders.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The gantry price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, has been slashed by the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
The Lagos-based oil facility brought down the ex-depot price of the petroleum product by 15.58 per cent or N129 per litre to N828 per litre.
Though the company had yet to release an official statement on this development, real-time market data on Petroleumprice.ng on Friday showed the new price.
Punch reports that data from the platform also showed fresh reductions across several private depots following the refinery’s latest review.
Sigmund Depot cut its ex-depot price by N4 to N824 per litre, Bulk Strategic dropped its price by N3, and TechnoOil slashed its by N15.
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