Akinwumi Adesina re-elected as head of AfDB

Nigerian Akinwumi Adesina weathered the storm over accusations of mismanagement against him and was re-elected Thursday for five years as president of the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Its first challenge will be to deal with the effects of the pandemic on the continent.

With “100% of the votes of all regional and non-regional members of the Bank” according to the AfDB press release, Mr. Adesina, 60, the only candidate for his succession, therefore received a plebiscite somewhat masking the earthquake that almost knocked him over.

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A few months ago, he was on the brink.

In a detailed report, whistleblowers accused him of favoritism in appointments of senior officials, in particular Nigerian compatriots.

They also criticized him for the appointment or promotion of people suspected or convicted of corruption, or for having granted disproportionate severance payments to certain executives.

At the end of July, Akinwumi Adesina was exonerated of accusations of mismanagement by a committee of experts, at the end of a media-financial soap opera that lasted three months and destabilized the institution.

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The ADB, one of the five main multilateral development banks in the world, was created in 1964. It has 80 shareholder countries (54 African countries and 26 non-African, European, American and Asian countries). It is the only African institution rated triple A by financial rating agencies.

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