As the time draws near for a final decision to be taken on the leadership of the African Development Bank (AfDB), the campaign to ensure Dr. Akinwumi Adesina gets the nod to lead the bank for another term gains momentum, writes ROBERT EGBE
On Wednesday, the fact that the Federal Government is serious about ensuring Dr. Akinwumi Adesina gets a second term as the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) assumes a new lease. The government is said to have chosen the pioneer Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Mustafa Chike-Obi, as a Special Envoy to get the United States to drop its objections to Akinwumi’s second term.
Chike-Obi’s choice stems from the fact that he was a colleague and close associate of the current United States (U.S) Treasury Secretary, Steve Mnuchin, at Goldman Sachs in the late 80s and early 90s.
In May, Mnuchin wrote a letter asking the AfDB to set up an independent panel to examine allegations against Akinwumi. An AfDB panel earlier cleared Adesina.
Two other people with links to the U.S., Dr. Mima Nedelcovych, a former U.S. representative at AfDB, and Ambassador Harold Doley, the first U.S. Executive Director at the bank, have also joined the move to get the Donald Trump administration to accept the outcome of the probe by the AfDB ethics committee, which cleared Adesina of any wrongdoing.
Dr. Nedelcovych, who served as the U.S. Executive Director at AfDB from 1989 to 1993, and Doley have said that backing Adesina is in the best interest of the United States.
Dr Nedelcovych said he saw “absolutely no reason why the administration should not wholeheartedly support the re-election of President Akinwumi Adesina for a second term at the helm of the African Development Bank.”
Why the support is increasing
Dr Nedelcovych said Adesina has established the framework for furthering the critically important role that the AfDB is playing in the development and inclusive growth of the continent, adding that supporting the AfDB is “good business for the United States”.
Dr. Adesina is U.S. trained, with a PhD in agricultural economics from Purdue University, where he received the Outstanding PhD Thesis award. He worked for a decade with the Rockefeller Foundation, New York, has been a close collaborator of Bill and Melinda Gates and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Adesina is well known all across the US where he has developed, over decades, strong partnerships, cutting across universities, Foundations, government agencies and private sector and investment funds.
He was awarded the World Food Prize in 2017 by the World Food Prize Foundation based in Des Moines, Iowa, for global leadership in food and agriculture, especially for Africa. The Vice President of the United States, Mike Pence wrote a personal letter to Dr. Adesina to celebrate his award of the World Food Prize and said: “Dr. Adesina, your leadership embodies the American virtues of hard work and self-determination. From your upbringing in challenging circumstances to your academic training at Purdue University, your life experience and dedication inspires many people around the world. On behalf of President Donald Trump, I extend my heartfelt congratulations as you receive this important award. The United States is committed to food security, and will continue to work with leaders like you to find innovative ways to end global hunger. Thank you for your commitment and contributions for making the world a better place”.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates celebrated the award of the World Food Prize to Dr. Adesina and called Adesina’s donation of his $250,000 laureate cash award to set up a Fund to support young people in Africa in agriculture, as one of his seven memorable moments of 2017.
Several U.S. universities have honored Dr Adesina, including Honorary Doctorate degrees from Franklin and Marshall College, Purdue University, Michigan State University, and University of Alberta, Canada, among many others in Africa.
He was named African of the Year by Forbes Africa, twice, in 2014 and 2019. He was named the African Person of the Year by the Africa Leadership Magazine, in an open and competitive poll across Africa, garnering 60 per cent of votes.
Adesina was awarded the globally prestigious Sunhak Peace Prize in 2019 for his global leadership on promoting global peace and good governance. He also donated his $500,000 laureate cash prize to establish the World Hunger Fighters Foundation, to advance his drive to end global hunger and develop the youth to become hunger fighters.
Dr. Adesina was listed among the 100 Most Reputable People in the World in 2019 by the Reputation Poll.
Dr. Adesina, said credible voices, has put the bank on a global pedestal as a globally respected institution. Under his leadership, the bank has been aggressively accelerating the development of the continent. The bank, under his leadership, has become much closer to countries on the ground.
His key supporters
The Executive Committee of the Africa Union, consisting of all 55 African countries, unanimously endorsed Dr. Adesina as the sole candidate for re-election for a second term as President.
Also, all 15 Heads of State of the ECOWAS region unanimously endorsed him for re-election
Fourteen former heads of state and government of Africa applauded his remarkable leadership at the bank and endorsed him for re-election as President.
Key facts and figures
Since his election as President in 2015, Dr. Adesina has led the bank to impressive giant strides. Armed with a vision for a much improved quality of life for Africans, he launched five priorities (High 5s) for Africa’s accelerated development.
The High 5 priorities are light up and power Africa; feed Africa; integrate Africa; industrialise Africa; and improve the quality of life of the people of Africa.
An independent analysis by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has shown that achieving these High 5s will allow Africa to achieve 90% of the Agenda 2063 and the SDGs.
In less than five years of his first term mandate, other achievements are: 18 million people were provided with access to electricity, through “Light Up and Power Africa; 141 million people gained access to improved agricultural technologies for food security, through “Feed Africa”; 13 million people benefited from access to finance from private sector investment projects, through “Industrialise Africa”; 101 million people benefitted from access to better transport through “integrate Africa”; 60 million people benefit from improved access to water and sanitation under “Improved quality of life for the people of Africa; and , the bank’s investments have benefitted and impacted a total of 333 million Africans – an impact unprecedented since the Bank’s establishment in 1964.
The bank has also maintained its AAA rating by all the global rating agencies for five years in a row. Dr. Adesina led a bold move to expand the capital of the bank to help further accelerate the development and worked very closely with all shareholders, including the United Kingdom.
The bank successfully achieved a historic 125 per cent increase in its capital in October 2019, increasing by $115 billion, from $93 Billion to $208 Billion. This is the highest ever in the history of the bank.
With the General Capital Increase, the bank plans to support African countries to achieve even more remarkable impacts in the next 8 years:
⦁ 105 million people will get access to electricity.
⦁ 204 million people will benefit from improved access to agricultural technologies to achieve food security.
⦁ 23 million people will benefit from investee private sector companies.
⦁ 252 million people will gain access to improved transport services, and
⦁ 128 million people will benefit from improved water and sanitation.
Donor contributions to ADF 15 increased by 35%, which will make more funding available to support Low Income Countries and Transition States on the continent.
In 2018, the Africa Investment Forum mobilised $38.7 billion of investment interests for Africa in less than 72 hours. The second edition of the Forum, held in November 2019, mobilised $40.1 billion of investment interests for businesses on the African continent. Through the Africa Investment Forum, the Bank and its partners intend to leverage $300 billion of investments into Africa over the next eight years.
As Africa faced the Coronavirus pandemic, Dr. Adesina announced a $10 billion in support of African countries.
The bank also successfully launched a $3 billion “Fight COVID19” social bond on the global capital markets, which has been acclaimed as the largest US dollar denominated social bond ever in world history. The bond is now listed on the London Stock Exchange, now oversubscribed at $4.6 billion.
The bank launched some major transformative initiatives on financing for women, climate, renewable energy and jobs for the youth.
The bank launched the Desert to Power Initiative to develop 10,000 Megawatts of solar power all across the 11 countries in the Sahel region of Africa. This is expected to provide electricity for 250 million people, 90 million of these via off-grid systems. The $20 Billion investment when completed will be the world’s largest solar zone. It has been strongly supported by all the Presidents of the countries in the Sahel.
Under Adesina’s leadership, the bank launched the Affirmative Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) to provide $3 billion in financing for women businesses in Africa. The initiative is seen as the largest ever effort for financing women in Africa. It was formally launched at the G7 Summit in Biarritz, France in 2019, and in Africa in Kigali during the Global Gender Summit held in Rwanda.
In 2019 and 2020, “Publish What You Fund” ranked the Bank as the 4th most Transparent Institution among 47 global institutions.
In 2018, the bank recorded an unprecedented first, when it was ranked Number 1 by the Multilateral Organisation Performance Assessment Network (MOPAN), a position jointly shared with the World Bank.
Aside from the hugely successful Africa Investment Forum, Dr Adesina has led several North American trade shows and even as he continues to seek U.S. business and Investments on the continent.