Adesina promises to keep n fighting for Africa despite standing down as AfDB president

NIGERIA'S Akinwunmi Adesina has promised to continue serving Africa with all his might despite standing down as the chairman of the African Development Bank (AfDB) after 10 at the helm and handing over to Mauritanian Sidi Ould Tah.

At the AfDB's annual general meeting in Ivory Coast, Dr Adesina, Nigeria's former agriculture minister, stood down as the bank's president. He told delegates that he gave Africa his heart fighting for the continent’s best interest during his tenure, recognising the contributions of several stakeholders to his success.

Dr Adesina said: “I earnestly gave Africa my heart, my mind and my all. I fought for what I believed were in Africa’s best interest, every single day and at every turn in my 10 years as president.

“I will continue to serve Africa today and well into the future by God’s grace. I am thoroughly convinced that He did not make a mistake in creating me as an African. The total disbursements of the bank over the last 10 years alone stands at $59bn, representing almost half of all the disbursements in the history of the group.”

He added that since the establishment of the AfDB in 1964 up until 2014, the bank approved $118bn in loans across the continent but over the last decade alone, the figure stood at $102bn. He said the institutions who got this finance ranged from commercial banks to regional development financing institutions, to multilateral development financing institutions, boosting their capital bases.

Speaking further, he said the bank has significantly strengthened the financial architecture in Africa, with its capital rising from $93bn in 2015 to $318bn in 2025. Dr Adesina said the bank put the expanded capital into remarkable use with unprecedented financial support to all of our African countries.

Dr Adesina added:  “Thanks to our African Development Fund (ADF) donors, we raised $8.9bn, the largest ever in the history of the fund since 1973. We innovated and developed a new financial framework that will allow the ADF to mobilise $27bn from global capital markets.

“When I was first elected president of the bank in 2015, its capital stood at $93bn but from 2015 to 2025, we have grown the bank’s capital from $93bn to $318bn. Also, the African Investment Forum, launched by the bank and its partners in 2018 has since mobilised $225bn in investment interests in Africa, across several projects.”

At the Abidjan summit, Dr Sidi Ould Tah, the director-general of the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa was elected as the new AfDB president. After three intense rounds of voting, he clinched the top seat with 76%  of delegate votes, becoming the 10th president of the bank.

A familiar face in development finance circles, Ould Tah brings with him a rich blend of experience spanning over 30 years both in the public and multilateral sectors. He began his professional journey in 1984 at the Mauritanian Bank for Development and Commerce, before taking on roles at the Food Security Commission and later as administration and finance manager at the Municipality of Nouakchott.

He later joined the Arab Authority for Agriculture, Investment and Development in Sudan and then went on to serve in the Islamic Development Bank.  On the political front, Dr Tah served as economic advisor to both the president and prime minister of Mauritania between 2006 and 2008, before being appointed as minister of economics and finance.