Adesina sets target as he begins new term

Weeks after being cleared of abuse of office, the President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, has been re-elected into office for a second term. The election, which took place on August 27, 2020, would see Adesina begin a new five-year term on September 1, 2020.
The election saw Adesina re-elected with 100% of all the votes of regional and non-regional shareholders of the bank, this was unparalleled in the Bank’s 56-year history.

Among his goals for the new tenure were:

• We will support sustainable debt management, boost green growth, and accelerate the promotion of jobs for youth on the continent.
• We will expand partnerships – financial partnerships, knowledge partnerships, and investment partnerships. Stronger inclusive partnerships with civil society, academia, and knowledge centers of excellence.
• We will reach out and tilt more global capital towards Africa — joining investment hands across the globe to support the needs of the continent.
• The Bank will leverage its brand, its knowledge, and resources to help do more and better for Africa. We will deepen the Africa Investment Forum and make it a critical driver for this bold investment partnership to help move Africa forward.
• We will ensure that Africa’s youth potential is fully unleashed. In this regard, the Bank will support the establishment of Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Banks. Banks that will help to mobilize and deploy capital to drive the entrepreneurship of the youth of Africa — in ways that are systemic, scalable, and sustainable.
• We will build on the great successes we have had in agriculture, by scaling up technologies to reach tens of millions of farmers and supporting Africa to build competitive agricultural value chains. We will add value to what we produce in Africa, and provide creative and high-tech opportunities for massive youth engagement in agriculture and agribusiness.

Adesina said: “Our shareholders have showcased the African Development Bank’s exceptionally high standards and its commitment to transparency and good corporate governance. I am deeply grateful for your collective trust, confidence, and support. Above all, I am greatly honored”.

He said that in the last five years, the bank has achieved the following results: 18 million people with access to electricity; 141 million people with access to improved agricultural technologies for food security; 15 million people with access to finance from private investments; 101 million people with access to improved transport from infrastructure; and 60 million people with access to water and sanitation.

In his address, he further said that through the innovative and groundbreaking Africa Investment Forum in 2018 and 2019, the bank was able to attract a combined $78.8 billion worth of investment interests into Africa.