Finance Minister, Okonjo-Iweala, Others Hail Adesina’s Re-election As AfDB President

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed has congratulated Dr. Akinwumi Adesina on his re-election as President of the African Development Bank.

She said Adesina scored 100 per cent regional and non-regional votes to emerge as President of the AfBD.

She said, “Dr. Akinwumi Adesina has been re-elected for a second tenor of five years as the President of the African Development Bank.

“The election was by a double majority from the regional and non-regional countries – 100 per cent of regional and 100 per cent of non-regional votes. Congratulations Dr. Adesina.”

Also, Nigeria’s former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said the re-election of Adesina is a good development for Nigeria and Africa.

Okonjo-Iweala, who is also seeking appointment as the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, congratulated Adesina via her verified Twitter handle @NOIweala.

She described Adesina’s re-election as a wonderful development.

She said, “Wonderful to hear the news of the re-election of Akin Adesina as the President of AfDB Group.

“Hearty congratulations to you my brother. Wishing you five more fruitful years.

Meanwhile, finance and economic experts have said that the re-election of the AfDB boss would further bring development to Nigeria in particular and the African continent.

The Registrar, Institute of Finance and Control of Nigeria, Mr Godwin Eohoi told THE WHISTLER in an exclusive interview that Adesina’s re-election has shown that Nigeria has men with proven integrity.

He commended the Federal Government for standing by Adesina and believing in his competence to take the bank to greater heights.

He said, “He is upright in all ramifications. Adesina’s re-election is worth celebrating because they wanted to truncate his ambition with the probe and it’s a sign that we have good people in Nigeria.

“I congratulate him and the people of Nigeria because we have shown that we have people who can uphold international standards in leadership and if we have the calibre of Adesina in Nigeria, we would achieve tremendous development.”

He said the country can benefit from the economic programme of the AfDB in the area of agriculture, health and infrastructure development.

Also, a Professor of Economics at the University of Abuja, Oyinlola Olaniyi, told THE WHISTLER that the first benefit of Adesina’s re-election as the AfDB head is the positive image his achievements at the bank gave the country “at the time where people have a very negative opinion about Nigeria.”

According to the Varsity Don, Nigeria would be the centrepiece of his struggle for the emancipation of Africa’s agro-industries.

He said, “If we have somebody doing well from another country, Nigeria may be left out.”

Olaniyi noted that the former minister of agriculture is conversant with the country’s challenges, adding that the AfDB head had in his first term contributed to the development of the country’s agricultural sector through huge funding.

He said Adesina is leading Africa to add value to its agro-products and build infrastructure around agriculture.

He added, “Nigeria is a very huge beneficiary of Adesina’s policy at the continents largest multilateral bank and would continue to be over the next five years.”