EDITORIAL: Congratulations to Dr Akinwumi Adesina
The arrival of Dr Akinwumi Adesina at the African Development Bank (AfDB) on September 1, 2015 marked the turning point in the 56-year history of the regional body.
Before then the bank had struggled to remain as an average performer in the various aspects of its operations especially on its core mandate: “to spur sustainable economic development and social progress in its regional member countries (RMCs), thus, contributing to poverty reduction’’.
The last five years have proved to be the most memorable years in the history of AfDB.
Thanks to the innovative and astute leadership credentials of the man at the helm of affairs, our own Dr. Akinwumi Adesina. Dr Adesina once served as Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.
He was also Vice President, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Associate Director at the Rockefeller Foundation in New York, Principal Economist for the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, Principal Economist and Coordinator of the West Africa Rice Economics Task Force at the West Africa Rice Development Association, Assistant Principal Economist at the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, among other highprofile positions he held globally.
Dr Adesina’s achievements in his first term in office traversed all the core areas of AfDB’s mandate captured under the highly pronounced key performance indicators: Corporate Governance, Development Programmes, Investment Mobilisation, Decentralised Governance and Asset Management.
Recent developments at the AfDB reveal that Adesina has been able to deepen the organisation’s high rating on good governance.
He was able to do this by diligently implementing the bank’s Governance Strategic Framework and Action Plan (2014-2018), GAP-II which built on the gains of GAP-I among other governance initiatives put in place by the bank’s Board of Governors.
As a result of this the bank has been ranked as the 4th most transparent institution in the world by Publish What You Fund.
The outstanding performance of Adesina has caused the bank to reach a new mileage of accelerated economic development through his highly innovative ‘High 5 Strategic Priorities’: Light up and Power Africa, Feed Africa, Industrialise Africa, Integrate Africa and Improve the Quality of Life of people of Africa.
Through this, 18 million people have been connected to electricity and 141 million others gained access to modern agricultural technologies.
The programmes have also ensured that private sector investments reach 13 million people. Also, 101million people enjoy good transport services.
It suffices also to say that the ‘High 5 Strategic Priorities’ has also been instrumental to access to clean water and sanitation in most rural areas of the continent.
These are, indeed, sterling achievements that can only be made by leadership that revolves around vision, focus, teamwork, resourcefulness, and mental alertness.
On decentralised governance, he has ensured that the bank’s activities are carried out mainly at the five regional offices he created.
This has given rise to a diffused staffing model that brought the bank closer to the people.
Hence, the share of the staff outside the headquarters rose sharply from 29 per cent in 2011 to 59 per cent in 2018. Similarly, operations of the bank strongly tend towards the regions as the share of activities handled at the regional country offices rose from 30 per cent in 2011 to 76 per cent in 2018.
Dr Adesina’s investment strategy is also paying off.
He launched the Africa Investment Forum in 2018 and in just 72 hours the forum raked in a walloping inflow of 37.8 billion dollars.
The second edition in 2019 generated 40.1 billion dollars. He has already set a target of 300 billion dollars in 8 years.
This is only possible with an extraordinary president who has won the confidence of development financiers globally.
Instructively, the AfDB under Adesina has maintained a four-year consecutive AAA rating by all the four major global rating agencies.
This reflects a high pedigree of asset management on the criteria of financial and risk management, liquidity management, shareholders support as well as return on income and loans.
Adesina has also changed the face and perception of agriculture in the continent as he works towards self-sufficiency in food production in the continent.
READ ALSO: How Adesina beat U.S. to clinch re-election as AfDB president
With these remarkable achievements, the AfDB stands repositioned to address the developmental challenges of member countries in a bold manner.
It is, therefore, not surprising that Dr Adesina was not ruffled by the allegations against him before his re-election.
He was cleared by all the panels set up to probe his activities.
We commend President Muhammadu Buhari and other African leaders for standing firmly behind Adesina in what amounted to interference from external forces during his bid for a second term.
Dr. Adesina is a shining star on the African firmament where officials often abuse their office. We therefore say to our own Dr Adesina, congratulations!
