AfDB: The task before Adesina
Akinwunmi Adesina, Nigeria’s immediate past minister of agriculture, formally assumed office as the 8th president of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) on Tuesday, September 1, three months after his election. Adesina emerged as president of the bank on May 28, 2015 ahead of seven other candidates – including Sufian Ahmed, Ethiopia’s minister of finance; Jaloul Ayed, Tunisia’s finance minister; Christian Duarte, Cape Verde’s finance minister; and Samura Kamara, Sierra Leone’s foreign affairs minister.
Many analysts have said that Adesina has what it takes to move AfDB to the next level, having acquitted himself well as Nigeria’s agriculture minister. His highpoints, they say, include his intellectual brilliance, impeccable record as an international civil servant and astuteness as a statesman and one of the best ministers in the President Goodluck Jonathan administration.
We totally agree with these analysts. Indeed, in all his speeches since his election in May, Adesina has demonstrated that he understands what lies ahead of him. In his acceptance speech after his election, he had conceded that the continent holds “vast opportunities for a greater and more inclusive Africa” and committed to building “a stronger and more prosperous Africa, with smart infrastructure, energy for all, a strong private sector, new economic opportunities that will deliver quality jobs and hope for millions of youths and women, revival of Africa’s rural economies to lift many out of poverty, and regional integration for shared prosperity”.
Also in his inaugural speech on September 1, Adesina identified five priority areas: Light up and Power Africa. Feed Africa. Integrate Africa. Industrialize Africa. Improve quality of life for the people of Africa. These, for us, are the key issues that will enable the realisation of Adesina’s vision of “expanding opportunities and unlocking potentials – potentials for countries, for women, for the youth, for the private sector, for the continent”.
Going further, he promised to “unleash a new wave of growth and development shared by all”, tackle increasing inequality and “the sense of exclusion by the majority”, ensure that women and young people “feel the impact of economic growth in their lives”; and reverse the situation where “a continent with abundant arable land, water, diverse agro-ecological richness and sunshine is a net food-importing region” and ensure that Africa feeds itself through a rapid transformation of the agriculture sector; and boldly address the high youth unemployment in Africa and invest in the youth “to build skills and encourage entrepreneurship while providing access to the financial resources necessary to unlock their creativity and unleash the power of their business enterprises”.
He said: “Our collective challenge is to drive inclusive growth – growth that will lift millions out of poverty. Africa can no longer be content with simply managing poverty. For our future and the future of our children, we must eliminate it. We must integrate Africa – grow together, develop together. Our collective destiny is tied to breaking down the barriers separating us. From large to small nations, from countries on the coast to those far inland, from the island states that depend on the blue economy, to states coming out of conflicts with resilience and determination, our aspirations are the same – to deliver quality growth and development and to see all Africans prosper.”
He also spoke on the need to “open up Africa with high quality regional infrastructure – especially rail, transnational highways, information and communications, air and maritime transport” – so as to enable “a phenomenal boost in intra-Africa and global trade” and unleash “the entrepreneurial spirit of small businesses, large businesses, and millions of our young people”.
These, indeed, are noble visions, and we have no doubt that Adesina means business. And we believe, with the support of all the regional and non-regional shareholders of AfDB, the private sector, civil society, academic institutions, multilateral and bilateral development agencies, and the rest of Africa, he can replicate his giant strides in Nigeria’s agriculture sector despite the challenges. And there is no better time than now.
As Obadiah Mailafia, a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, has said, “The African Development Bank stands at a critical juncture in its 50-year history. Many of its stakeholders have felt it has become a massive, top-heavy bureaucratic behemoth that is losing touch with its critical clientele. There is no doubt that the organisation has done some things right, but it is very clear that it has also manifested key weaknesses in several critical sectors. Now is the time to reposition the AfDB to make it a lean organisation that can be a catalyst for the much-vaunted African Renaissance. This is a call for bold leadership, for reform and for courage in repositioning the AfDB so that it can serve the interests of all its shareholders.”
Like Mailafia, we have no doubt that Akinwunmi Adesina has what it takes to “ensure that the organisation remains an authentic African organisation that is world-class in excellence and professionalism”. We wish him Godspeed.