Echotitbits – Nigeria News

Tag: AfDB

  • The Gambia’s national university renames its agriculture school after Akinwumi Adesina

    The Gambia’s national university renames its agriculture school after Akinwumi Adesina

    The Gambia’s national university renames its agriculture school after Akinwumi Adesina

    According to Africa Newsroom (via APO Group), the University of The Gambia has renamed its School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences in honour of Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, citing his long-standing impact on agriculture and development across Africa.

    The move positions the faculty as a symbolic rallying point for food-security research, climate-smart agriculture, and youth-focused agripreneurship—areas that continue to dominate policy conversations across West Africa.

    It also signals a reputational bet: when institutions attach a global development figure’s name to a school, stakeholders expect the standard to rise—through partnerships, research output, and funding.

    Punch also reported the renaming and quoted Adesina’s reaction, including the phrase “deep sense of gratitude.” The Guardian Nigeria similarly confirmed the development, noting the university “renamed its School” in his honour.

    Echotitbits take:
    This is soft power turning into institutional opportunity. Watch for what follows the ceremony—new grants, exchange programmes, and targeted research labs that can turn the name into measurable outcomes.

    Source: The Punch — January 2, 2026 — https://punchng.com/the-gambia-varsity-renames-faculty-after-ex-afdb-president-adesina/
    The Punch 2026-01-02

    Photo Credit: The Punch

  • AfDB Approves €25m Trade Finance Guarantee for Cameroon’s CCA-Bank to Boost SME Lending

    AfDB Approves €25m Trade Finance Guarantee for Cameroon’s CCA-Bank to Boost SME Lending

    ABIDJAN/YAOUNDÉ, December 2, 2025 — The African Development Bank Group has approved a €25 million trade finance facility for Cameroon’s Crédit Communautaire d’Afrique-Bank (CCA-Bank), aimed at expanding support to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and other businesses across key sectors of the economy.

    The facility, cleared by the Bank’s Board of Directors at a session held on 1 December in Abidjan, will be deployed as a Transaction Guarantee, a risk-sharing instrument that provides cover to eligible African banks for their trade finance operations.

    According to Lamin Drammeh, Head of the Bank Group’s Trade Finance Division, the guarantee will help unlock critical imports needed for Cameroon’s productive sectors.

    “The facility will support Cameroon’s economy by facilitating imports of equipment for the industrial, agro-industrial and telecommunications sectors. It will also enable the African Development Bank to provide up to a 100 percent guarantee to confirming banks, to facilitate the confirmation of letters of credit and other similar trade finance instruments issued by CCA-Bank for the benefit of SMEs in Cameroon,” Drammeh explained.

    Léandre Bassolé, Director General for the Bank’s Central Africa region, noted that the operation aligns with AfDB’s drive to deepen direct interventions in support of the private sector in Cameroon.

    “It will strengthen CCA-Bank’s capacity to support the activities of SMEs, including those owned by women and young people, to boost the local productive sector, facilitate economic growth, and create and maintain thousands of jobs,” he said.

    Welcoming what she described as a strategic milestone, CCA-Bank’s Managing Director, Marguerite Fonkwen Atanga, said the partnership would significantly enhance the bank’s ability to serve smaller businesses and emerging entrepreneurs.

    “We would like to express our gratitude to the African Development Bank Group for this important trade finance facility. This strategic partnership marks a major milestone for our institution and will significantly strengthen our capacity to support small and medium-sized enterprises, women entrepreneurs and start-ups in Cameroon and Africa,” she stated.

    Background: AfDB’s Transaction Guarantee

    The Transaction Guarantee is a trade finance instrument introduced by the African Development Bank in 2021 to support commercial banks operating in Africa. It covers a range of trade-related instruments, including confirmed letters of credit, commercial loans, irrevocable repayment undertakings, endorsed drafts and promissory notes, among others.

    The facility is available to banks registered and operating in Africa that have successfully passed the Bank’s due diligence process, helping them reduce perceived risk from international confirming banks and expand access to trade finance for their clients.

    About the African Development Bank Group

    The African Development Bank Group is Africa’s leading development finance institution, comprising the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Development Fund (ADF) and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF). With representation in 41 African countries and a field office in Japan, the Bank supports economic development and social progress across its 54 regional member states.

    Source Credit:

    African Development Bank Group (AfDB) – press release distributed by APO Group, 2 December 2025.

  • Ondo Revives Owena Water Dam With AFD/AfDB-Backed Projects

    Ondo Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa says the state is partnering with Agence Française de Développement and the African Development Bank to resuscitate the long-stalled Owena Water Dam and restore reliable pipe-borne water supply.

    The project is positioned as a major step toward ending prolonged water scarcity and improving public health outcomes across affected communities.

    2025-12-09

    Punch Newspapers

    2025-12-09

  • AfDB Tasks African Leaders on Industrialisation towards Transforming the Continent’s Economies

    AfDB Tasks African Leaders on Industrialisation towards Transforming the Continent’s Economies

    African Development Bank (AfDB) has urged the continent to accelerate industrialisation for the transformation of African economies.

    The multilateral development bank has been at the forefront in promoting smart industrial policies and mobilising infrastructure development funding for Africa.

    To this end, the bank has described Industrialising Africa as one of its High-5 key strategic aims, critical for the transformation of African economies.

    “Industrialisation, where we add value to what we competitively produce and then export, and also trade among ourselves on the back of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) within a market of 1.3 billion people, should be prioritised and delivered,” said the bank’s Vice President, Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialisation, Solomon Quaynor, in a message to mark Africa Industrialisation Day 2020, themed: “Inclusive and Sustainable Industrialisation in AfCFTA Era.”

    Quaynor noted that the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic had sharpened the need to accelerate industrialisation and urged a greater role for the private sector, including as a partner to the public sector.

    “Resilience is key, and that means no matter the external shocks in the future, we should rebuild so that our people, particularly youth and women who head our households, have jobs and better incomes,” he said.

    The bank assured of its commitment to the operationalisation of AfCFTA. In August 2019, the institution extended a sum of $4.8 million grant to support the establishment of AfCFTA Secretariat in Ghana.

    AfDB is also working with African countries that are developing strategies for implementation of AfCFTA, helping them to build capacity and leverage opportunities provided by freer trade.

    When businesses could trade across borders, then industry could expand, economies could be diversified, and countries could move up the value chain, said the bank’s 2020 Annual Development Effectiveness Review (ADER) released this week.

    The report suggested that the bank’s investments in 2019 benefited one million people. Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that benefited from bank projects trebled their turnover to $1 billion.

    Several projects recently approved by the bank are expected to help regional member countries exploit opportunities, including the construction and operation of a submarine internet cable in Seychelles and a project to expand access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises in West Africa, the report noted.

    The African Development Bank is also promoting development of economic zones that bring together an enabling business environment, backbone integrated infrastructure and transport near to agricultural production hubs.

    “Agro-Industrial Processing Zones aim to train young people in rural areas with the needed skills and attract companies, particularly SMEs,” the bank’s Director, Agricultural Finance and Rural Development, Atsuko Toda, also commented.

    The pandemic has also spurred opportunities for Africa to strengthen local manufacturing capabilities for basic and essential medicines, personal protective equipment and other medical equipment.

    “The bank is undertaking a ground-breaking study to develop a plan for this, which will be ready before the end of the year. The plan will highlight opportunities, challenges, policy reforms required, financing windows and strategic partnerships to be forged to make this happen,” said Director of Industrial and Trade Development at the African Development Bank, Abdu Mukhtar.

    Celebrated each year on November 20, Africa Industrialisation Day offers governments and development partners opportunities to explore or highlight initiatives that advance Africa’s industrialisation.

    Idowu Sowunmi

  • Climate Change Financing: AfDB Appoints 80 Experts towards Accessing $10bn Green Climate Fund

    Climate Change Financing: AfDB Appoints 80 Experts towards Accessing $10bn Green Climate Fund

    African Development Bank has designated representatives from 80 government institutions, civil society organisations and universities for training as experts in developing climate financing proposals.

    Following a thorough independent selection process, 80 participants were chosen, with approximately 40 from English-speaking countries and 40 from French and Portuguese-speaking countries.

    The trainees would pass on their knowledge to potential beneficiaries of the Green Climate Fund, a $10 billion endowment set up in 2010 to help countries implement their climate agenda through loans, equity, guarantees and grants.

    The 120-hour training programme would be managed by Climate Change and Green Growth Department of African Development Bank, with funding from Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation Trust Fund.

    The scheme is being built on ongoing work by African Development Bank, Green Climate Fund and other partners to support the bank’s regional member countries to directly access Green Climate Fund resources.

    “The Green Climate Fund is expected to be a major source of climate finance for the African continent. Accessing finance from the Fund is challenging because of the complexities of designing climate change projects to fulfill the funding criteria.

    “This training will boost capacity amongst African nationally determined authorities, governments and consultants by training trainers to run future training courses,” said Manager of the Environment and Climate Finance Division in the Department of Climate Change and Green Growth at African Development Bank, Gareth Phillips.

    The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has made the training to be shifted from in-person to online. This has the advantages of making it less costly to run and more carbon efficient.

    The project’s theory of change is based on three main components, which complement ongoing work by the bank to enhance the capacities of several African countries to access Green Climate Fund resources through small grants from the Africa Climate Change Fund.

    These components include: developing training materials and an online platform to support direct access to the Green Climate Fund, training a pool of experts and certifying them to support African governments and institutions, and facilitating south-south learning.

    Idowu Sowunmi

  • At Nordic-African Business Meeting, AfDB Calls for Transformational Agro-industrialisation Projects

    At Nordic-African Business Meeting, AfDB Calls for Transformational Agro-industrialisation Projects

    African Development Bank (AfDB) has made case for agro-industrialisation projects by seeking support from Nordic country partners towards adding value to the competitive production of commodities such as cocoa, livestock and cotton in order to leverage the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).

    Speaking at a webinar held on Thursday by Nordic-African Business Association (NABA), Vice President for Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialisation at African Development Bank, Solomon Quaynor, called for a strategic investment opportunities in Africa.

    He explained that this singular gesture would allow “African production to participate more in these value chains and also to increase jobs and increase incomes to private sector and also the African economy.”

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    One good example of this is Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) and AP Moller Capital’s Arise Group of Companies, in partnership with Olam of Singapore.

    The digital webcast, jointly organised by NABA, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Scatec Solar and AFC, was part of a day-long event aimed at reconnecting Nordic businesses with the continent.

    Nordic-African Business Summit has been hosted for nine consecutive years in Oslo – with more than 3,000 guests and 300 speakers from over 40 countries taking part so far.

    Quaynor, who was joined by African Development Bank’s Executive Director for the Nordic countries, Ireland and India, Paal Bjornestad, addressed a virtual audience made up of Nordic business representatives, government and private sector and interested individuals.

    The panel entertained various questions, such as that of bankability which includes market and profitability/cashflow risk, lack of a conducive enabling environment, properly conducted Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA), and challenges of integrity of sponsors and contractors.

    Other questions focused on project financing available for investors, trade finance, and whether the bank has invested in tourism projects.

    Responding, African Development Bank said it supported “all projects which support economic development, but we have decided to be selective and focus on areas of our comparative advantage.”

    The bank is being more selective and targeting larger transformational industrialisation projects. “We also support financial institutions to indirectly support smaller projects. We will also be pivoting more from maximising our direct loans to using guarantees to crowd in other private investors,” Quaynor added.

    On the criteria for Bank support in smaller projects, he said: “In areas where the opportunities are small but very important, such as off-grid renewable energy, we support through platforms such as SEFA (the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa)…

    “Overall we need bankable projects, credible business plans…and we need to be sure that ESG and compliance work has been done.”

    The bank’s mandate to spur sustainable economic development and social progress on the African continent, saw $9 billion in commercial and concessionary lending in 2019, Quaynor outlined, during his presentation on the bank’s activities and priority areas, which was followed by a question and answer session.

    This lending went towards its priority High5s, across its key cross-cutting themes – that is mainstreaming gender, support to fragile markets, and climate-friendly projects. Twenty five per cent was to the private sector.

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    One example of this is Boko Mine and Port in Guinea, described as a “truly transformative project.”

    The $1.4 billion integrated mining and related transport infrastructure project has benefitted from a 14-year senior loan of up to $100 million from African Development Bank, with up to a three-year grace period.

    The project is expected to add $400 million to Guinea’s GDP, $300 million to the country’s trade balance annually during the operational phase.

    Additionally, over 4,000 jobs would be created during its construction phase, as well as 700 permanent and 1,500 temporary jobs during the operational phase.

    Idowu Sowunmi

  • Buhari, Abiodun Congratulate Adesina over Reelection as President of African Development Bank

    Buhari, Abiodun Congratulate Adesina over Reelection as President of African Development Bank

    President Muhammadu Buhari and Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, have congratulated President of African Development Bank, Akinwunmi Adesina, on his re-election for a second term in office.

    Buhari, who felicitated with Adesina on behalf of the Federal Executive Council and Nigerians in general, explained that the news of the victory came during the Council of State meeting, which was attended by former heads of state, Senate President, governors, some ministers, and senior government officials.

    Nigeria’s Akinwunmi Adesina Re-Elected As AfDB President

    Buhari, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, applauded reelected president’s versatility, experience at both national and international engagements, saying he believed that Adesina would “further deploy these qualities to energise the pan-African financial institution.”

    He urged him to remain “focused and steadfast in pursuing the noble goals of making life better for Africans through various development plans, already captured as High 5s.”

    The statement explained that the Secretary to Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, announced the good news of Adesina’s reelection to which Buhari led a round of applause immediately, saying: “He (Akinwumi Adesina) deserves it.”

    Adesina Set to Be Re-elected as African Development Bank President This Week

    The Nigerian President extended appreciation to the African Union for its endorsement of Adesina much earlier, and to shareholders of the bank who worked tirelessly to ensure the return of the visionary leader.

    Buhari rejoiced with family, friends and professional colleagues of Adesina over the re-election, while commending members of staff and Board of Governors of the bank for their consistent support for the former Nigerian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, and his management team.

    While pledging full support of his government to ensure a successful tenure for the bank’s leadership, the Nigerian President prayed God to continue to strengthen Adesina and his team for greater good to the continent.

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    In his congratulatory message to Adesina, who hails from Ogun State, Abiodun described his reelection as a blessing to Nigeria.

    “On behalf of the good people of Ogun State, I congratulate Dr. Akinwumi Adesina on his re-election as President of the African Development Bank.

    “It is not surprising, and it is indeed a blessing to our great nation, Nigeria to have retained leadership of the regional institution, when one considers the many developmental contributions by the bank to member countries.

    “I wish him a successful new term that will steadily continue to take the African region to greater heights,” the governor said.

    Idowu Sowunmi

  • African Diplomatic Corps in USA congratulates Adesina over exoneration of wrongdoings

    African Diplomatic Corps in USA congratulates Adesina over exoneration of wrongdoings

    Dean of African Diplomatic Corps in the United States of America (USA), Serge Mombouli, has congratulated the President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, praising him for his forthrightness.

    The Dean, on behalf of the African Diplomatic Corps, also warmly thanked the Independent Review Panel for its excellent work.

    It would be recalled that Adesina was completely exonerated of any wrongdoing by a high level panel of eminent persons led by Her Excellency, Mary Robinson, former President of the Republic of Ireland.

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    The panel was established to review the report by the Ethics Committee of the Boards of Directors of the African Development Bank that had previously reached the same conclusion that Adesina had not engaged in unethical practices or misconduct.

    Reacting to the development, Mombouli commended Adesina for his visionary leadership and the outstanding development results attained by the bank under his tenure.

    While noting the election of the President of the African Development Bank planned to take place on August 27, Mombouli called for Adesina’s re-election in unison by acclamation.

    According to him, “Dr. Adesina is the sole candidate and has received the full endorsement of the African Union.”

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    The dean also extended his appreciation to the Board of Directors, the Ethics Committee of the Boards of Directors, and the Bureau of the Board of Governors of the African Development Bank for their courage and maturity in establishing an independent and transparent process, which confirmed the excellent governance of the bank.

    The African Diplomatic Corps urged USA, the largest non-regional shareholder, and all other shareholders, to continue to strongly support the bank’s President and the African Development Bank Group, going forward, especially at this period of global novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

    Idowu Sowunmi

  • African Development Bank Approves $27m Grant Financing to Curb COVID-19 Pandemic

    African Development Bank Approves $27m Grant Financing to Curb COVID-19 Pandemic

    African Development Bank has approved a sum of $27.4 million in grants to boost the African Union (AU)’s efforts to mobilise continental response to curb the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

    Speaking after the bank’s approval by its Board of Governors, President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, said: “With this financing package, we are reaffirming our strong commitment to a coordinated African response in the face of COVID-19.

    “Most importantly, we are sending a strong signal that collectively, the continent can address the pandemic in Africa, which is straining health systems and causing unprecedented socio-economic impacts on the continent.”

    The bulk of the bank’s grant financing for this operation, about $26.03 million, would help to strengthen the institutional capacity of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) to respond to public health emergencies across the continent, while the balance of $1.37 million, would be a contribution to the AU COVID-19 Response Fund.

    The two grants, from the bank’s concessional window, the African Development Fund, and the Transition Support Facility, would support the implementation of Africa CDC’s COVID-19 Pandemic Preparedness and Response Plan through strengthening surveillance at various points of entry (air, sea, and land) in African countries; building sub-regional and national capacity for epidemiological surveillance; and ensuring the availability of personal protective equipment for frontline workers deployed in hotspots and testing materials.

    The operation would also facilitate collection of gender-disaggregated data and adequate staffing for Africa CDC’s emergency operations center.

    The approval came on the heels of a meeting of the extended Bureau of the AU Conference of Heads of State and Government with Africa’s private sector on April 22, chaired by President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, who is the current chairperson of AU.

    Adesina, who attended the meeting, pledged strong support for the AU COVID-19 initiative.

    AU Bureau meeting called for contributions to the African Union’s COVID-19 Response Fund established by the AU Commission chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat, in March 2020.

    At the beginning of February 2020, only two reference laboratories in Senegal and South Africa could run tests for COVID-19 on the continent.

    Africa CDC, working with governments, World Health Organisation (WHO), and several development partners and public health institutes, have increased this capacity to 44 countries.

    Despite this progress, Africa’s testing capacity remains at less than 600 per one million people compared to 50,000 in Europe.

    “Our response today and support to the African Union, is timely and will play a crucial role in helping Africa look inward for solutions to build resilience to this pandemic and future outbreaks,” said bank’s Acting Vice President, Agriculture and Human Development, Wambui Gichuri.

    This support would complement various national and sub-regional operations financed by the African Development Bank under its COVID-19 Rapid Response Facility to support African countries contain and mitigate the impacts of the pandemic.

    Idowu Sowunmi

  • African Development Bank Appoints Wambui as Acting Vice President

    African Development Bank Appoints Wambui as Acting Vice President

    African Development Bank Group has announced the appointment of Wambui Gichuri as Acting Vice President (Agriculture, Human and Social Development) effective July 5.

    Wambui joined the African Development Bank Group in 2018 as Director, Water Development and Sanitation. She currently oversees the bank’s water sector programme of over $ 4.5 billion covering 44 countries and multinational projects.

    Commenting on her appointment, the President of the African Development Bank Group, Akinwumi Adesina, said: “I am very pleased that Wambui agreed to step into this role as Acting Vice President.

    “The Vice Presidency Complex on Agriculture, Human and Social Development has some of our largest programmes and flagship initiatives.

    “With her extensive experience, leadership, people management skills, and strong execution capacity, I am confident that she will help strengthen the team and accelerate execution on critical programmes and initiatives.”

    Wambui supervises two divisions: the Water Development, Coordination and Partnerships, and Water Security and Sanitation divisions, as well as the African Water Facility divisions, a project preparation facility.

    She also leads the development and coordination of the technical programme, manages the department’s human resources and budget and the development of extensive partnership activities.

    Her leadership role includes water sector policy dialogue, strategy and business development, and spearheading innovations.

    Before joining the African Development Bank, she worked for the World Bank where she served in various capacities for 20 years, including 17 years in water resources management, supply, sanitation, irrigation and drainage, with vast experience in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.

    Wambui holds a Master’s Degree in Economics from University of Nairobi, Kenya (1988); a Bachelor of Philosophy degree in Economics (1986) and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Sociology (1983) from the same university.