
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has endorsed the candidacy of African Development Bank (AfDB) President Akinwumi Adesina for a second term at the helm of the institution.
During its 56th ordinary session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS held in Abuja recently, Dr Adesina was commended for his sterling performance during his first term as president of AfDB, thereby endorsed for a second term.
He is a renowned development economist and the first Nigerian to serve as President of the Bank Group. He has served in a number of high-profile positions internationally, including with the Rockefeller Foundation, and was Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development from 2011 to 2015, a career stint that was widely praised for his reforms in the agricultural sector. The former minister brought the same drive to the Bank, making agriculture one of the organization’s priority areas.
ECOWAS President Jean-Claude Kassi Brou commended the bank’s involvement in West Africa and said it had provided “invaluable technical and financial interventions…in the implementation of numerous projects and programmes”.
The ECOWAS summit included a progress report on the region’s economic performance. It noted the role of the African Development Bank is the continent’s transformation and called for greater cooperation in order to fund projects in West Africa.