June 2, 2015 Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, Nigeria’s immediate past Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development is the new President of the African Development Bank, after an election held at AfDB’s base in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. Dr Adesina defeated seven others with 58 percent of the votes to clinch the position. The bank was founded in 1964 to provide capital for economic development and to alleviate poverty in its member states, and is financed by both African nations and shareholder countries outside the continent.
The 55-year-old Adesina, served in Nigeria’s recent past administration under President Goodluck Jonathan, and will take over the Bank’s leadership from Donald Kaberuka of Rwanda on September 1st.
Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala spoke with Reuters after the result was announced. She said “It went very well. We are really elated and grateful we have delivered this for Nigeria. We had a great candidate and a lot of support,”
Adesina’s work on programmes to improve agriculture credit and food production, his efforts at revitalizing farming after decades of neglect and his work on bringing more transparency to fertilizer subsidies, made him a choice candidate for the position.