Business
Akinwumi Adesina becomes the new head of African Development Bank
Nigeria’s former Minister of Agriculture, Akinwumi Adesina, was late last week elected to become the new president of the African Development Bank (AfDB).
Adesina, 55, will succeed Rwandan Donald Kaberuka, chief for two consecutive terms since 2005, at a time when the institution is trying to diversify from its traditional role as a development bank.
He was elected with 58.10 percent after six rounds of voting, beating the finance ministers of Chad and Cape Verde to the role.
A total of 80 AfDB shareholders, including 54 African states took part in the election in Abidjan, in which 8 candidates were vying for the presidency.
Adesina inherits a financially sound institution, which was awarded a prestigious AAA rating by ratings agency Fitch in 2013 – a year in which it lent a total of US$6.8 billion for 317 operations.
Adesina was voted African of the year in 2013 by Forbes magazine for his agricultural reforms, and he represents a country considered to be the new economic powerhouse of Africa.
His election to the the head of the institution is a break the unwritten rule that the top job should go to someone from a small or medium-sized country – Nigeria is the leading oil producer, most populous country and the largest economy of the African continent.
Nigeria’s immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan welcomed Adesina’s appointment. “For me, it is a good parting gift,” Jonathan said at an inauguration dinner for his successor in Abuja, attended by foreign dignitaries, officials and diplomats.
Despite some conflicts, health crises such as Ebola and poverty, Africa is today seen as “a new frontier in world economic growth”, Amethis investment fund founder Luc Rigouzzo told reporters ahead of the AfDB election.
Adesina will now have the job of managing the continent’s financial attractiveness – without losing sight of the need to fight poverty and develop infrastructure.
