• News
    • Latest news
    • News search
    • Health
    • Finance
    • Food
    • Career news
    • Content series
    • Try Devex Pro
  • Jobs
    • Job search
    • Post a job
    • Employer search
    • CV Writing
    • Upcoming career events
    • Try Career Account
  • Funding
    • Funding search
    • Funding news
  • Talent
    • Candidate search
    • Devex Talent Solutions
  • Events
    • Upcoming and past events
    • Partner on an event
  • Post a job
  • About
      • About us
      • Membership
      • Newsletters
      • Advertising partnerships
      • Devex Talent Solutions
      • Contact us
Join DevexSign in
Join DevexSign in

News

  • Latest news
  • News search
  • Health
  • Finance
  • Food
  • Career news
  • Content series
  • Try Devex Pro

Jobs

  • Job search
  • Post a job
  • Employer search
  • CV Writing
  • Upcoming career events
  • Try Career Account

Funding

  • Funding search
  • Funding news

Talent

  • Candidate search
  • Devex Talent Solutions

Events

  • Upcoming and past events
  • Partner on an event
Post a job

About

  • About us
  • Membership
  • Newsletters
  • Advertising partnerships
  • Devex Talent Solutions
  • Contact us
  • My Devex
  • Update my profile % complete
  • Account & privacy settings
  • My saved jobs
  • Manage newsletters
  • Support
  • Sign out
Latest newsNews searchHealthFinanceFoodCareer newsContent seriesTry Devex Pro
    • News
    • #AfDBAM2015

    New AfDB chief Akinwumi Adesina: 'I will not let you down'

    Nigeria just simultaneously lost its agriculture minister and gained its first African Development Bank president. After more than five hours of anticipation and frenzy over social media on Thursday, Africa’s premier development finance institution announced its new president: Akinwumi Adesina, the man known for his colorful bow ties.

    By Jenny Lei Ravelo // 28 May 2015
    Nigeria just simultaneously lost its agriculture minister and gained its first African Development Bank president. After more than five hours of anticipation and frenzy over social media on Thursday, Africa’s leading development finance institution announced its new president: Akinwumi Adesina, the man known for his colorful bow ties. It was no straightforward win for Adesina, who has served for the past five years as Nigeria’s minister of agriculture and rural development. He was up against Thomas Sakala, former vice president at the bank who had the backing of the Southern African Development Community. Lone female candidate Cristina Duarte of Cape Verde also proved to be tough competition. Although she was rumored to have dropped out of the race early on, she remained in the top three contenders, while Sufian Ahmed, Africa’s longest-serving finance minister and a favorite for the role, was surprisingly eliminated second. Some experts predicted Adesina would follow the way of past Nigerian candidates. Abuja, despite having the largest voting power at the bank, has never succeeded in sitting one of its own at the institution. In 2005, outgoing President Donald Kaberuka from Rwanda defeated Nigerian candidate Olabisi Ogunjobi, who was also a former vice president at the bank. But Adesina was a clear crowd favorite, and any support he lacked geographically, he made up for on social media. As of publication of this article, Adesina already has more than 13,000 Twitter followers — and counting. Many were impressed with his credentials and achievements — Forbes’ 2013 Person of the Year title among them. But it was action, too, that got him noticed. In just under four years in his role as minister of agriculture, he was able to introduce an agribusiness facility in Nigeria that encouraged banks to increase their agricultural lending, and a system that helped curbed huge corruption in the fertilizer industry. The question now is how successful he will be in translating these accomplishments to the bureaucracy of one of the world’s largest multilateral development banks. One area the bank continues to struggle with is the speed with which it’s able to disburse money following project approval. In his vision, Adesina pledged to prioritize small- and medium-sized enterprises as he puts in place plans to grow the bank’s private sector operations, make infrastructure lending more integrated instead of “opportunistic or isolated, one-off infrastructure investments” and mainstream job creation for youth and women across the bank’s operations, among others. It won’t be easy. As Kaberuka, who will be officially leaving the job by the end of August, said in his opening statement at this week’s annual meetings, the job is “complex and merciless” — although also exciting — and there will be “many inevitable moments of frustration.” But Adesina, in the first few minutes of his victory, already made a promise: “I will not let you down.” Read more international development news online, and subscribe to The Development Newswire to receive the latest from the world’s leading donors and decision-makers — emailed to you FREE every business day.

    Nigeria just simultaneously lost its agriculture minister and gained its first African Development Bank president.

    After more than five hours of anticipation and frenzy over social media on Thursday, Africa’s leading development finance institution announced its new president: Akinwumi Adesina, the man known for his colorful bow ties.

    It was no straightforward win for Adesina, who has served for the past five years as Nigeria’s minister of agriculture and rural development. He was up against Thomas Sakala, former vice president at the bank who had the backing of the Southern African Development Community.

    This article is free to read - just register or sign in

    Access news, newsletters, events and more.

    Join usSign in
    • Banking & Finance
    Printing articles to share with others is a breach of our terms and conditions and copyright policy. Please use the sharing options on the left side of the article. Devex Pro members may share up to 10 articles per month using the Pro share tool ( ).

    About the author

    • Jenny Lei Ravelo

      Jenny Lei Ravelo@JennyLeiRavelo

      Jenny Lei Ravelo is a Devex Senior Reporter based in Manila. She covers global health, with a particular focus on the World Health Organization, and other development and humanitarian aid trends in Asia Pacific. Prior to Devex, she wrote for ABS-CBN, one of the largest broadcasting networks in the Philippines, and was a copy editor for various international scientific journals. She received her journalism degree from the University of Santo Tomas.

    Search for articles

    Related Stories

    Development financeThe bow tie bows out: Adesina’s 10 years at AfDB

    The bow tie bows out: Adesina’s 10 years at AfDB

    Devex InvestedDevex Invested: A new dawn for the African Development Bank

    Devex Invested: A new dawn for the African Development Bank

    FinanceNew AfDB president inherits a bigger bank — and tougher challenges

    New AfDB president inherits a bigger bank — and tougher challenges

    FinanceAfrican Development Bank presidential hopefuls outline competing visions

    African Development Bank presidential hopefuls outline competing visions

    Most Read

    • 1
      Opinion: Women’s voices reveal a maternal medicines access gap
    • 2
      Opinion: Resilient Futures — a world where young people can thrive
    • 3
      Opinion: Why critical minerals need global regulation
    • 4
      Opinion: Time to make food systems work in fragile settings
    • 5
      Breaking the cycle: Why anemia needs a place on the NCD agenda
    • News
    • Jobs
    • Funding
    • Talent
    • Events

    Devex is the media platform for the global development community.

    A social enterprise, we connect and inform over 1.3 million development, health, humanitarian, and sustainability professionals through news, business intelligence, and funding & career opportunities so you can do more good for more people. We invite you to join us.

    • About us
    • Membership
    • Newsletters
    • Advertising partnerships
    • Devex Talent Solutions
    • Post a job
    • Careers at Devex
    • Contact us
    © Copyright 2000 - 2025 Devex|User Agreement|Privacy Statement