Dr. Adesina’s vindication at AfDB

Last week, the Independent Review Panel set up by the Bureau of Governors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) completely exonerated the president of the bank, Nigeria’s Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, of any ethical wrongdoing.

The three-member panel was headed by a former Prime Minister of Ireland, Mary Robinson, who is also a United Nations human rights lawyer and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Gambia, and the former Vice President of Integrity for the World Bank, Leonard Murphy.

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The panel was set up following a complaint by the United States of America on the findings of two previous committees of the bank, the Ethics Committee of the Board and the Bureau of Board of Governors, both of which had earlier given Dr. Adesina a clean bill of health on allegations against him.

Earlier in January this year, 16 allegations of ethical misconduct were levelled at Adesina by a group of whistleblowers. The allegations were reviewed by the bank’s Ethics Committee of the Board of Directors in March which described them as ‘’frivolous and without merit’’. These findings were further upheld by the Bureau of Board of Governors in May this year.

Yet, this did not seem to satisfy the United States of America, which is the second largest shareholder of the bank after Nigeria. The Americans rallied some members of the board and insisted that a panel of independent experts be appointed to review the process which exonerated Dr. Adesina.

Although this request by the United States is not covered by the statutes, the bank’s authorities nonetheless decided to do the needful if only to assuage the doubts of the Americans and to prove that its processes are transparent.

The Independent Review panel in its findings stated that it “Concurs with the Ethics Committee in its findings in respect of all the allegations against the President (Dr. Adesina) and finds that they were properly considered and dismissed by the committee.” The panel concluded that “It has considered the president’s submissions on their surface and finds them consistent with his innocence and to be persuasive.’’

Neutral observers of developments at the AfDB under Dr. Adesina could hardly fault this assessment. His track record since taking over in 2015 speaks for itself. He has led a successful campaign to increase the share capital of the bank from 93 billion dollars to 208 billion dollars; meaning more money to expand the development programmes that would uplift the poor and vulnerable segments of Africa. Dr. Adesina has also, through the Africa Investment Forum, attracted some 80 billion dollars in investments into various projects across Africa.

In the wake of the COVID-19, the bank helped launch a 10 billion dollar investment facility to help African nations tackle the health and economic effects of the pandemic.

Dr. Adesina has also introduced far-reaching reforms at the bank which include: a five-pronged strategy on critical areas of development across Africa; restructuring of the bank, including setting up offices in several African countries, to bring the bank closer to clients. It was no surprise therefore that in June and July this year, globally reputed financial ratings agencies, Standard and Poor, and Fitch, respectively returned an ‘AAA’ rating of the bank and declared that its future was stable.

That Dr. Adesina was able to scale these hurdles owes a lot to the firm support given to him by especially President Buhari who rallied other African governments and regional organisations like the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to endorse him. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo also must be commended for promptly reaching out to former presidents of African countries to firmly and publicly stand behind Dr. Adesina.

Dr. Adesina’s latest vindication paves the way for his reappointment this month for another five-year term as he is the sole candidate.

While congratulating Dr. Adesina, we must state that he should not rest on his oars. If anything, it calls for more dedication and commitment on his part as the challenges will be more. Having opened new vistas of the bank’s outreach in Africa there will be even more demands from a continent that is in dire need of development intervention.

In meeting these demands as we expect him to, Dr. Adesina will be well advised not just allow himself to be distracted by the intrigues in the bank, he should also be careful enough not to fall for the banana peels that will surely be laid on his path by those who do not wish him and Africa well in his endeavours as Chief Executive of the AfDB.