African Development Bank (AfDB) has endorsed Dr Akinwunmi Adesina for a second term as president of the bank. The decision was taken during the 36th Ordinary Session of the African Union (AU) Executive Council, held during the AU Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from February 6 and 7, 2020.
In a statement, Olufemi Terry of the Communication and External Relations Department of the bank, said that Adesina was elected in his first term as president by the Bank’s Board of Governors at its annual meetings in Abidjan on May 28, 2015.
He is the eighth president of the African Development Bank Group and the first Nigerian to hold the position. During his first term, the statement added, the bank’s shareholders approved a landmark $108 billion capital increase in late October. The increase in the capital base, from $93 billion to $208 billion, signalled a strong support from the Board of Governors in the continent’s foremost financial institution.
Adesina is a renowned development economist who has held a number of high-profile international positions, including an assignment with the Rockefeller Foundation, and as Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development from 2011 to 2015.