Politics
ABIKE Dabiri-Erewa, chairman, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, NiDCOM, has congratulated Akinwumi Adesina on his re-election as the president of the African Development Bank, AfDB Adesina was re-elected today by the AfDB board of governors to serve another five-year term which begins on September 1.
Dabiri-Erewa said in a statement by Gabriel Odu of Media, Public Relations and Protocol Unit of NIDCOM, that the re-election of Akinwunmi Adesina as AfDB president was the right thing to do given his plethora of achievements.
She stressed that many Nigerians are mostly known for their integrity, dexterity, innovation and drive; making them most suitable candidates for international accolades and leadership roles, and not criminals as most people are quick to project the country as.
“I hope that his coming back as the regional Chief of the Bank will pave more grounds and strategies to develop Africa in various sectors,” she said.
Adesina became the 8th elected president of the AfDB on May 28, 2015, by the bank’s board of governors at its annual meeting in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. He assumed office at the bank’s headquarters in Abidjan on September 1, 2015.
The 60-year-old Adesina is a notable development economist and agricultural development expert with 25 years of international experience.
He is the first Nigerian to serve as president of the Bank Group, and first also to be re-elected.
He served as Nigeria’s minister of agriculture and rural development from 2011 to 2015, which saw radical policy reforms in the fertilizer sector and implemented innovative agricultural investment programmes.
Adesina was previously vice-president (Policy and Partnerships) of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, AGRA.
He was also an associate director (Food Security) at the Rockefeller Foundation in New York (1998-2008) and its Regional Office Director and Representative for Southern Africa.
The AfDB Head was Principal Economist and Social Science Research Coordinator for the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, IITA, Principal Economist and Coordinator of the West Africa Rice Economics Task Force at the West Africa Rice Development Association, WARDA, and an Assistant Principal Economist at the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT.
In addition, he was the President of the African Association of Agricultural Economists from 2008-2010.
Adesina is a multi-recipient of international awards in leadership and work in agriculture. In 2010, Former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed him as one of 17 global leaders to lead the Millennium Development Goals, along with Bill Gates, the Spanish Prime Minister and the President of Rwanda. He was named “Person of the Year” by Forbes Africa magazine in 2013.
Akinwumi Ayodeji Adesina holds a first-class honours Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Ife, Nigeria In 1988 he completed a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics at Purdue University in the US, where he won the Outstanding Ph.D. Thesis Award for his research work.
He also won the prestigious Rockefeller Foundation Social Science Post-Doctoral Fellowship in 1988, which opened his international career in global agricultural development. He was born on February 6, 1960, and speaks French and English, fluently.
– Aug. 28, 2020 @ 16:55 GMT |
Tags: Dabiri-Erewa lauds AfDB president on his re-election
