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Tag: AfDB

  • AfDB board finds middle ground, supports Adesina, grants US a review

    AfDB board finds middle ground, supports Adesina, grants US a review

    The African Development Bank’s (AfDB) board, decided to opt for a middle ground resolution of the impasse generated by the demand of the United States, a non-regional investor in the bank, for an independent probe of misconduct allegations leveled against the bank’s President, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, whom the ethics committee of the organization has already cleared.
    In a statement issued by the Chairperson of the Bureau of the Board of Governors, Ms. Niale Kaba on Thursday, the board stood its ground on the accuracy of the outcome of an internal investigation that had cleared Adesina of improper conduct, but confirmed it would authorise an independent review of the ethics committee report, as against the US’ “independent probe” in order to please all stakeholders.

    READ ALSO: African Development Bank Presidency: I’ll stand by you – Buhari tells Adesina

    AfDB’s board of governors said it believed the bank’s ethics committee, which produced the report, had carried out its role correctly. But the board has nevertheless agreed to authorise a review.

    “The independent review shall be conducted by a neutral high caliber individual with unquestionable experience, high international reputation and integrity,” it said.

    The AfDB chief who never hid his desire to run the bank for a second term, gained the support of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU) due to his sterling performance at the bank. In April, Dr. Adesina was confronted with the first resistance to his second term bid in the form of allegations of misconduct by a whistleblower and later a second resistance when the United States rejected an internal process that cleared him of wrongdoing.

    The United States, AfDB’s second-largest shareholder, has demanded a new independent probe into the allegations, rejecting the bank’s investigation over reservations about the integrity of the bank’s process.

    Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the leader of the nation with the largest single share, President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria has voiced his support and gave his backing to Adesina in his bid for a second term as AfDB president.

    Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari meets African Development Bank’s (AfDB) President, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina

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    The board however stressed that the review of the investigation would take no more than four weeks considering the organization’s electoral calendar.

    Owing to the disquiet in Africa’s number one bank, the board of Governors resolved to review the bank’s whistle-blowing and complaints handling policy at a later date presumably to improve the confidence of all stakeholders in its Internal mechanism.

  • African Development Bank Presidency: I’ll Stand By You, Buhari Tells Adesina

    African Development Bank Presidency: I’ll Stand By You, Buhari Tells Adesina

    Idowu Sowunmi
    President Muhammadu Buhari Tuesday said Nigeria would stand solidly behind Dr. Akinwumi Adesina in his bid to get re-elected as President of the African Development Bank (AfDB).
    The President stated this at State House in Abuja, while hosting Adesina on a courtesy visit.
    According to him, “In 2015, when you were to be elected for the first term, I wrote to all African leaders, recommending you for the position.
    “I didn’t say because you were a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Minister, and I belonged to the All Progressives Congress (APC), so I would withhold my support. I’ll remain consistent with you, because no one has faulted the step I took on behalf of Nigeria.”
    The President, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, pledged that Nigeria would work with all other leaders and stakeholders in AfDB to ensure that Adesina is elected for a second term built on the record of his achievements during his first term.
    The African Union had already endorsed the incumbent AfDB President as sole candidate for the continent, but some other stakeholders are trying to ensure that Adesina is re-investigated on some allegations, and rendered ineligible to run.
    Giving a background to what was happening in the bank, Adesina, a former Nigerian Minister for Agriculture, said the 16 allegations raised against him were trumped up, “and without facts, evidence, and documents, as required by the rules and regulations of the bank.”
    He added that the Ethics Committee of the bank cleared him of all the allegations, and calls for fresh investigation by the United States of America, were against the rules.”
    He said: “My defense ran into 250 pages, and not a single line was faulted or questioned. The law says that report of the Ethics Committee should be transmitted to the Chairman of Governors of the bank.
    “It was done, and the governors upheld the recommendations. That was the end of the matter, according to the rules. It was only if I was culpable that a fresh investigation could be launched.
    “I was exonerated, and any other investigation would amount to bending the rules of the bank, to arrive at a predetermined conclusion.”
    Stressing that the motive was to soil his name, and that of the bank, the AfDB President said he was proud to be Nigerian, and thanked President Buhari for his unflinching support.
    “You helped me to get elected in the first place, and you have supported me robustly all along, and the African Union unanimously endorsed my re-election,” he declared.
    While commiserating with President Buhari on the death of the former Chief of Staff, Mallam Abba Kyari, Dr Adesina described Professor Ibrahim Gambari, new Chief of Staff as “a man of integrity, and of global standing.”
  • Akinwummi Adesina: Sierra Leone President, ex-US AfDB representative strengthens support base

    Akinwummi Adesina: Sierra Leone President, ex-US AfDB representative strengthens support base

    The support base of embattled President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), DR. Akinwunmi Adesina has been strengthened by two top level individuals, Sierra Leone President, Julius Maada Bio and Harold Doley, the first United States representative to the AfDB. They are the latest joining in with their voice.

    In a message posted on twitter last Sunday, President Bio expressed solidarity to the man that is widely referred to, across the continent as Africa’s Chief Developer.

    Adesina, the 2013 Forbes Africa Person of the Year awardee did not only appreciate President Bio throwing his weight behind him, he also expressed gratitude to other African leaders who had spoken in his favour over controversies generated by some whistleblowers and fanned by the United States, a non-regional member of Africa’s multi billion dollar development bank.

    “Thank you very much Your Excellency President Bio of Sierra Leone for your heartwarming confidence and support and that of the good people of Sierra Leone. I am humbled and grateful. @CyrilRamaphosa (President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa), @MBuhari (President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria) @AUC_MoussaFaki (Chairperson, African Union Commission)”, Adesina wrote.

    On his part, Doley did not fail to emphasise Dr. Adesina’s impressive feat as head of the AfDB in an open letter to US President Donald Trump.

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    Doley stressed that Adesina, since he assumed office in 2015, has rapidly restructured the bank refining its focus through a High-5 strategy, driven by strategic investment in energy, and electricity, agriculture, technology that significantly improved food security, access to private sector finance, improved transport infrastructure, water and sanitation, which has directly impacted the lives of many Africans.

    While he noted that it is profitable for America to support the AfDB, Doley said: “In 2019, with US support, the AfDB stakeholders approved a general capital increase of 115 billion dollars, the largest in the bank’s 56 years history. The increase more than doubled capital from 93 billion dollars to 208 billion dollars.

    “Also in 2019, the bank’s concessional window, the African Development Fund, received a 35 percent replenishment with donor contributions.

    “US shares of $499,695,200 represents 7.81 percent of total subscriptions are a critically needed resource for low-income countries and transition states.

    READ ALSO: AfDB: Obasanjo knocks US over flagrant ridicule, rallies support for Adesina

    “Ultimately, supporting Africa’s private sector is critical for social and economic development. In 2018, Adesina led an unprecedented effort to attract global investment into Africa through the inaugural Africa Investment Forum”, Doley’s letter read in part.

    In separate statements written to the Ethics Committee and Board of Governors of the AfDB to register their support for Dr. Adesina, the Nigerian Government through the office of the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, and 14 former African presidents and prime ministers led by Nigeria’s ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo including ex-President Goodluck Jonathan affirmed that an independent probe is stretching the matter too far since the Ethics Committee had cleared the Bank’s president of wrongdoing according to the governing procedures, to which an external independent probe is alien.