BREAKING: AfDB Re-Elects Adesina President

By Dipo Olowookere

Nigerian banker, Mr Akinwumi Adesina, has been re-elected as president of the African Development Bank (AfDB) for a second term in office.

Mr Adesina clinched the exalted position after surviving two different probe panels allegedly set up to disqualify him from continuing in office.

An initial investigation into the petitions against him cleared him of any wrongdoing, but one of the key shareholders of the organisation, the United States, called for another probe, which was reluctantly set up and he was again cleared, paving way for him to re-contest for the position.

At the ongoing annual meetings of the bank in Côte d’Ivoire, the 56-year-old Nigerian was re-elected on Thursday as a sole candidate for the post for a second five-year term.

A day before the poll, which was done electronically because of COVID-19, Mr Adesina said he was seeking for another term “to serve Africa and our bank, in an unbiased way, to the best of the abilities that God has given me.”

He promised to work harder for the development of the continent, especially at a time Africa and the world are grappling with a public health crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to AfDB, the continent could lose at least $173.1 billion in GDP in 2020 and $236.7 billion in 2021 as a result of the economic fallout of the pandemic, which has forced several industries to shut down and has led to millions of job losses.

In order to support Africa, the bank provided a swift response to support its regional member countries and the private sector with the launch, on April 8, 2020, of a COVID-19 Response Facility of up to $10 billion.

The annual meetings of the AfDB usually attract hundreds of delegates, including finance ministers, central bank governors, policymakers, civil society organizations, leaders of international organizations and key representatives of industry and the private sector from the bank group’s 81 member states, with 54 from Africa and others from Asia, Europe and Americas.