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Tag: Akinwunmi Adesina

  • Adesina Visits Buhari, Describes Him as His Defender-in-Chief

    Adesina Visits Buhari, Describes Him as His Defender-in-Chief

    President of African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina, has described President Muhammadu Buhari as his Supporter-in-Chief and his Defender-in-Chief.

    He said Nigeria gave him air, “when I badly needed it in my lungs,” and pledged to always support the country in his private capacity, and as AfDB President.

    President Buhari receives in Thank You Visit President of African Development Bank Dr Akinwunmi Adesina in State House on 10th Sep 2020

    Adesina had to battle stiff opposition last month to win an unprecedented 100 per cent votes from the regionals and non-regionals that make up the bank, and was inaugurated for second term of five years as AfDB President on September 1.

    He thanked Buhari and Nigerians for their support, saying he was proud to be a citizen of the country.

    “Home is where dreams are born. Home is where nurturing is provided. It is where support is given for realisation of dreams. I am glad to belong here.

    “When I came in June, you received me, and I shared my successes, and the difficulties facing me. You listened, and said you would stand by me. And you did. You not only stood behind me, but also beside me. No greater honour for a man than for his Commander-in-Chief to be his Supporter-in-Chief, and his Defender-in-Chief,” Adesina said, while paying courtesy visit to Buhari at State House in Abuja on Thursday.

    President Buhari receives in Thank You Visit President of African Development Bank Dr Akinwunmi Adesina in State House on 10th Sep 2020

    In his remarks, Buhari gave extensive reasons for supporting the newly re-elected President of African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina.

    Buhari said: “I congratulate you on your second and final term in office. Congratulations on winning the election. Nothing succeeds like success.

    “I have told so many people why I backed you.

    “In 2015, at your first term, you were a Minister with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) government, and I was of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    “But you are a good Nigerian. So I recommended you the first time. You proved to be competent, you made us proud, and I recommended you the second time.”

    The President commended Adesina for his support for Africa in general, and Nigeria in particular, noting that the infrastructural deficits the country has in roads, rail, power, could not be overcome without support.

    “There can’t be sustainable development without infrastructure. Our efforts should be seen in the context of lack of resources, but you do your best to support us. I wish you all the best in your final term,” Buhari said, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina.

    Photos:

    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

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

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

    Incumbent President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, is set to be re-elected for the second term in office as the multilateral development institution, for the first time in the history, holds its Annual Meetings virtually to comply with the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic-related social-distancing guidelines.

    Adesina is running as the sole candidate for a new five-year term.

    The bank’s Governors’ Dialogue and the election of the president would be top of the agenda of the upcoming meetings scheduled to take place from August 26 to 27.

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

    This year, which marks the 55th meeting of the bank’s Board of Governors and the 46th Annual Meeting of the African Development Fund, has the significance of being an election year for the bank’s president.

    During the meetings, bank’s governors are expected to receive updates on a range of developments since the previous Annual Meetings held in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea in June 2019.

    READ ALSO:

    Buhari celebrates as Independent probe panel exonerates AfDB President Adesina

    This would include the bank’s seventh General Capital increase, which the Board of Governors approved in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire on October 31, 2019, and which increased the bank’s capital base by a historic $115 billion to $208 billion.

    The governors would vote on August 27 to re-elect Adesina as the eighth president of the bank being a sole candidate.

    Adesina, the first Nigerian to hold the post, was elected for a five-year term on May 28, 2015, by the bank’s Board of Governors during that year’s Annual Meetings held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.

    The bank’s governors are typically the finance and economy ministers or Central Bank Governors of the 54 African regional member countries and 27 non-regional member countries.

    Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the continent’s shores in early March, over 1,000,000 confirmed cases of the virus have been recorded in Africa. The pandemic has hit the region’s economies hard in the wake of falling commodity prices and containment measures by governments that have led to country lockdowns.

    READ ALSO: Lagos health commissioner, Prof. Akin Abayomi tests positive to COVID-19

    For several months, the bank has been extending support to regional member countries in cushioning their economies, health systems, and citizens’ livelihoods from parallel health and economic impacts from COVID-19.

    In April 2020, the bank established a COVID-19 Response Facility of up to $10 billion to extend flexible support to African sovereign and non-sovereign operations. As of August 20, $2.29 billion in CRF funding had been approved for bank’s member countries.

    A further $1.186 billion has been disbursed to bank’s member countries, with approvals ongoing.

    In March, the bank also raised a record $3 billion with a COVID-19 social bond floated on London Stock Exchange.

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    The institution reached some major milestones during the trying times of lockdown with both Fitch and Standard & Poor credit rating agencies reaffirming the bank’s AAA rating with a stable outlook.

    In December 2019, African Development Fund Donors pledged $7.6 billion, the fifteenth such replenishment, to help Africa’s poorest countries.

    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.

    READ ALSO: Energy Poverty: African Energy Chamber makes key appointments into advisory board

    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

  • Update: AfDB – Independent panel clears Adesina of wrong doing, up re-election

    Update: AfDB – Independent panel clears Adesina of wrong doing, up re-election

    The special Committee set up by governors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) has cleared Dr Akinwumi Adesina, the bank’s president of any wrong doing.

    The committee chaired by former Irish President Mary Robinson sent in its  findings yesterday saying “It has considered the President’s submissions”.

    Coasting to a 5yr second term

    With the conclusions of the Independent Review Panel exonerating the African Development Bank President, Akinwumi Adesina, of 16 allegations of ethical misconduct leveled against him by a group of whistleblowers, the road is now clear for the bank’s governors to re-elect him to a second five-year term during the forthcoming annual meetings of the bank scheduled for August 25-27.

    The much awaited report by an Independent Review Panel completely exonerated Adesina of any ethical wrongdoings.

    The Independent Review Panel was set up by the Bureau of Governors of the Bank, following a complaint by the United States, to review the process by which two previous organs of the bank – the Ethics Committee of the Board, and the Bureau of the Board of Governors – had previously exonerated Adesina.

    The distinguished three-member Independent Review Panel include Mary Robinson, who is a former President of Republic of Ireland, a former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the Chairperson of the Elders, a global body of wise persons concerned with the world’s well-being; the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Gambia, Hassan Jallow; and Leonard McCarthy, a former Director of Public Prosecutions, a former Director for the Office of Serious Economic Offenses, and a former Head of the Directorate of Special Operations of South Africa.

    The findings and rulings of the Ethics Committee were subsequently upheld by the apex Bureau of the Board of Governors in May, which cleared Adesina of any wrongdoing.

    In its latest report, the Independent Review Panel stated that it “concurs with the (Ethics) Committee in its findings in respect of all the allegations against the President (Adesina) and finds that they were properly considered and dismissed by the committee.”

    The panel once again vindicated Adesina and stated thus: “It has considered the President’s submissions on their face and finds them consistent with his innocence and to be persuasive.”

    In January 2020, 16 allegations of ethical misconduct were leveled against Adesina by a group of whistleblowers. The allegations which were reviewed by the bank’s Ethics Committee of the Board of Directors in March, were described as “frivolous and without merit.”

    Scorecard in last five years

    Adesina is a highly decorated and distinguished technocrat and globally-respected development economist. He was awarded the prestigious World Food Prize in 2017 and the Sunhak Peace Prize in 2019 for global leadership in agriculture and for good governance.

    Since taking over the reigns of the bank in 2015, he has introduced several innovative reforms including a High5 development strategy; a restructuring of the bank including setting up offices in several African nations to get closer to its clients; an Africa Investment Forum that has attracted $79 billion in investment interests into projects in Africa between 2018 and 2019.

    He successfully led a historic General Capital Increase campaign that culminated in the bank’s shareholders raising the institution’s capital from $93 billion to $208 billion in October 2019.

    In June and July respectively, global credit ratings agencies Standard and Poors and Fitch Ratings both affirmed the ‘AAA’ rating of the bank, with stable outlook.

    Under Adesina’s leadership, the African Development Bank launched a $10 billion crisis response facility to boost African nations’ ability to tackle the health and economic effects of COVID-19.

    Several governors of the bank speaking off the record, said It’s now time to put recent events in the past; provide the bank’s President with full support; and bolster the bank’s efforts on Africa’s critical development issues.

    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

  • 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.