AfDB elects new president

Akinwumi Adesina has been re-elected president of the African Development Bank for a second term.

His election took place virtually on Thursday, and he had himself to contend with for another five-year term.

On Wednesday, the Nigerian appealed, by way of formality, for another term to run the 56-year-old institution whose biggest shareholders are Nigeria and the US of the 81 shareholders.

“I do it to serve Africa and our bank, in an unbiased way, to the best of the abilities that God has given me,” he said in a statement issued by the bank.

Months ago, the former agriculture minister in Nigeria was a subject of investigation following petitions by whstleblowers allegedly motivated by Stephen Dowd, the US rep on the bank’s board of governors.

After the bank’s ethic committee investigated and acquitted him, the US insisted an independent body should look into the matter. The decision of the ethics committee was later upheld by the independent body.