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The Board of Governors and the Ethics Committee of the African Development Bank (AfDB) have provided Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, President of the Bank, with a clean health statement in a May 5 report, stating that Adesina has been “completely exonerated from all charges made against him.” The background to this development is useful and is as follows:
On January 19, a group of anonymous whistleblowers who described themselves as “a group of concerned staff members” of the AfDB prepared a document titled “Disclosure of Acts Related to Alleged Violations of the Code of Ethics by an Official elected, to the attention of the Director of the Department of Integrity and Anti-Corruption (PIAC) and the Chairs of the Ethics Committees and AUFI “. The “elected official” in question is Akinwumi Adesina, the Bank’s Nigerian president. The complainants wanted him to be investigated for alleged violation of the institution’s Code of Conduct, to verify fraud and corruption and avoid an institutional crisis. In that January document, Adesina is accused of noncompliance with internal rules and regulations regarding recruitment, nepotism, impunity, questionable award of contracts, preferential treatment to Nigeria and Nigeria, use of Bank resources to collect awards in a personal capacity, political pressure from the bosses. of State, and becoming “the undisputed travel champion of the Bank”. On March 3, six weeks after the group filed its petition, it protested that the Ethics Committee was unable or unwilling to investigate the 16 allegations it raised against Adesina and that there was evidence that certain forces were trying to prevent the Committee Ethics would be work. He called on the Ethics Committee to commission an independent investigation. In April 2020, this same “Group of Concerned Staff Members” filed another petition against Adesina titled “Additional Cases of Alleged Breach of the Code of Ethics by the President of the African Development Bank Group for the attention of African Development Governors Group.” They raised four additional allegations including “use of Bank resources for self-promotion and private gain” and abuse of due process in the appointment of country managers.
However, there was a turn in the story when another group, called “a group of outraged members” who denounced the “Group of Concerned Staff Members,” filed a counter-complaint, dated March 13, to the Chairman of the Committee on Ethics. He clearly stated that they were “outraged” by the latter’s attempt to “take our institution hostage.” They stated that the intellectual author of the protest against Adesina is a certain Executive Director: Stephen DOWD (American member of the Ethics Committee) and a group of non-regional Executive Directors who “are not for the good governance of the African Development Bank, but for discredit the current president’s candidacy for reelection. ” The “outraged members” revealed that they were members of the “Group of Concerned Staff Members” until they discovered that they were being manipulated by Dowd and other non-regional Executive Directors. They asked the Ethics Committee to investigate Dowd. Interested members contested this and said that the outraged members were never part of their group.
All of the petitioners on both sides of the aisle, for and against Adesina, did not reveal their true identities, but it was obvious that there was a sharp divide within the bank over Adesina’s leadership and tension between regional directors and non-directors. regional offices of the Bank. . The outsourcing of the conflict was bad for the image of the institution. Akinwumi Adesina himself did not hesitate to proclaim his innocence. In a statement dated April 6, 2020, he wrote: “I am 100% sure that due process and transparency, based on facts and evidence, will indicate that all of this is nothing more than spurious and unfounded allegations.” Now, with her exoneration by the Bank’s Ethics Committee last week, Adesina can claim to have been vindicated. He received an additional moral boost when Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari congratulated him and described him as a good ambassador for Africa and Nigeria. Both votes of confidence should bring great relief to Adesina’s friends and supporters inside and outside the Bank and increase their chances of reelection for a second term.
There is no doubt that Adesina’s emergence as president of the AfDB, his leadership style, and his reform efforts built around what he calls the High Fives continue to stir some feathers within the Bank. Its appearance in 2015 was highly disputed. But with President Goodluck Jonathan, then-President-elect Muhammadu Buhari, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and many other African leaders strongly behind him, it was easy for him to get 60% of the vote to beat to seven other contestants. including Bedoumbra Kodje from Chad, Thomas Sakala from Zimbabwe, Sufian Ahmed from Ethiopia and Cristina Duarte from Cape Verde (the election of non-regional members). For her part, Adesina entered the competition with excellent professional and academic credentials: a first class in agricultural economics from the then Ife University, Nigeria, Ph.D, Purdue University, former vice president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), former senior economist, West African Rice Development Association (WARDA), former senior scientist, Rockefeller Foundation, and Nigerian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (2011-2015). Above all, Adesina is hardworking, focused, highly motivated, cosmopolitan and motivated … We work together in the Jonathan government.
The 2015 AfDB election was particularly important for Nigeria. In 2005 Olabisi Ogunjobi of Nigeria lost the AfDB position to Donald Kaberuka of Rwanda, who went on to serve two terms. To become president of the AfDB, a candidate must have a double majority of African and non-regional members. Nigeria is AfDB’s largest shareholder with over 9% of capital, and yet, since AfDB was established in 1964, it was only in 2015 that its candidate was first elected as President of the Bank. Akinwumi Adesina became the alleged president on May 28, 2015, and took office on September 1 of the same year. He had barely established himself in office before France began complaining that he rarely speaks French, while speaking English and French fluently. Three vice presidents also left the Bank. The conspiracy against him was raised early and has re-emerged more aggressively towards the end of his first term.
However, Adesina has had a good career in his first five years as president of the AfDB. No one can doubt his commitment and passion, or his determination that the AfDB’s mission is to help accelerate Africa’s development, create a new Africa and provide new opportunities for every African. It has also been very open in promoting alliances, calling bilateral and multilateral institutions to support Africa to build infrastructure, human capital, and accelerate economic growth. Under Akinwumi Adesina, the AfDB has consistently maintained its AAA rating achieved under Donald Kaberuka. The Bank is also comparatively more innovative, people-oriented and much more visible. It is better decentralized. Its position among the world’s financial institutions is strong. The Bank’s income has increased. Today he is much richer than ever.
In recognition of her efforts, Adesina has been widely honored and honored. He has been named African of the Year (2019) by African Leadership Magazine; countries have awarded him with their national honors: Senegal, Liberia, Tunisia, Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger, Togo. Universities have awarded him honorary doctorate degrees.
In 2017, he won the World Food Prize, which is considered the Nobel Prize for Agriculture. In 2019, he received both the African Business of the Year award from All Business Business Leaders and the Sunhak Peace Prize. His critics allege that he uses his position for self-promotion. Every award that Adesina has received as President of the AfDB is never without recognition of the Bank’s achievements. It has also taken advantage of the opportunities presented by its international recognition to promote African causes. The World Food Prize came with an ordered sum of $ 250,000 and the Sunhak Prize $ 500,000. What did you do? He donated all of the prize money, his own personal contributions, and the support of friends and philanthropists, to establish a Borlaug-Adesina Scholarship Program and the World Foundation of Hunger Fighters to fight world hunger. The Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Norman Borlaug established the World Food Prize in 1986. The Borlaug-Adesina Scholarship is administered by the World Foundation for Hunger Fighters. He has already graduated from various fellows.
But for me, perhaps if there is any personal gain for the president of the bank, it is the way in which he has managed to emerge as a role model for many young Africans who want to study Agriculture and Economics thanks to him. They also want to become agricultural entrepreneurs because they believe him when he says that the future of Africa is in the agriculture value chain and that agriculture is not farming, but big business.
Adesina’s best moment may not be the honors and awards he has received, but his presence at the 45th G7 Summit held in Biarritz, France, from August 24 to 26, 2019. This was at a time when the Federal Office of Investigations (FBI) of EE. USA Announced that they had arrested an Invictus Obi and were looking for 80 other Nigerians who for a period had been involved in identity theft and wire fraud in the United States. It was a low time for many Nigerians at home: some of our compatriots had once again damaged the country’s image and denigrated the Nigerian green passport. It was at this exact moment that images of Akinwumi Adesina, another Nigerian, appeared in the media, meeting with world leaders at a G7 Summit in France. The G7 Summit is a gathering of the world’s most powerful leaders. And there was Akinwumi Adesina having a tete-a-tete with President Donald Trump, shown in talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel and others, standing next to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Many young Nigerians were inspired by this. His reaction was that Adesina at a critical moment helped show, inadvertently, that there are talented Nigerians making positive contributions, who can be admitted to a distinguished global company. Many said they would like to be like him. Others wanted him to come home to run for the Nigerian Presidency in 2023. I am sure Adesina himself would not be so tempted. He must have learned a lesson or two about African politics when he served as Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture. Participation in partisan politics in Africa requires many adaptations for which many intellectuals or technocrats may not be the most suitable, except, of course, that they are willing to take the risk and condemn the consequences.
Therefore, understandably, much earlier, on June 14, 2019, at the Bank’s 54th Annual Meeting in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, Adesina announced her intention to run for a second term as President of the AfDB. The election was due to take place during the Bank’s 55th Annual Meeting, which was originally scheduled for May 25 and 29, 2020, but which due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the “resulting global disruption” has now been rescheduled for August 25-27. Adesina’s supporters insist that the attack on him by the “Group of Concerned Staff Members” is intended to politicize and thwart his reelection attempt. In addition to her outspoken proclamation of innocence, Adesina has also been highly philosophical about the attack on her and her possession. A devoted Christian and a warrior of prayer, whenever President Jonathan asked him to lead the Council in prayers on those days, he was bound to receive a song and a long prayer with Pentecostal flavor and silent murmurs from across the House that the A prayer warrior must make his pleas brief, so it is not surprising that as accusations against him circulated, Adesina occasionally resorted to biblical passages and prayers (Psalm 60:12; 2 Corinthians 12: 9) in her account. Twitter
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Prayers can help, but there is much more to do. The Ethics Committee’s verdict may be favorable, but still, that is not the end. President Muhammadu Buhari has reaffirmed Nigeria’s support for Dr. Akinwumi Adesina. The African Union (AU) and all Heads of State and Governments of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have also openly endorsed it for a second term. AU President, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, and others have most recently praised Adesina and the AfDB for announcing a $ 10 billion facility to combat the Corona Virus in Africa. It also enjoys the support of Africa’s organized private sector. Former Liberian President Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson told Adesina that African leaders trust him. “We trust you,” he said.
But Dr. Adesina must study the power game a little more closely. Will your enemies silently accept your humiliation and sheathe your swords? Do they have hidden aces up their sleeves, especially since it has been suggested that they are being sponsored by non-regional players? What is its strength? Can they still do any harm? The AfDB comprises 54 African countries and 27 non-African members, the last in the latter category being Ireland. AfDB’s voting power is weighted relative to capital share, with Nigeria, the United States, Japan and Egypt holding the largest share. Do you have enough numbers to get the required double majority? Even if you do, it is my opinion that rescheduling the 55th Annual General Meeting of the AfDB offers you an advantage. You have the advantage of having more time to embark on diplomatic and fence repair activities to make your adversaries within the system friends. He and his allies must not ignore these wronged “whistleblowers” or try to embarrass them. This is not the time for triumphalism. The right thing to do is to engage detractors. Adesina’s overall objective should be a united, inclusive, democratic and open AfDB, not a divided institution. The AfDB must remain focused on its development objectives, not on internal politics.
In 2010 Donald Kaberuka (Rwanda) was re-elected by acclamation. Before him, Omar Kabbaj (Morocco) was also re-elected in 1995. There is no reason why Akinwumi Adesina, a sole candidate, should not be re-elected. He has earned it. Nigeria deserves it. The Nigerian government must support Adesina to ensure his reelection.
