The African Development Bank (AfDB) has officially announced the election of its eighth president
Nigerian minister of agriculture and rural development Akinwumi Adesina was revealed last week as the successor to incumbent Donald Kaberuka, whose second term as president ends on 31 August 2015.
“Today, I have been given a great responsibility,” said Adesina, speaking upon his election by the bank’s board of governors at the institution’s 50th annual meeting in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, last week.
Adesina’s appointment is significant news for the African farming sector, as he has long espoused the importance of agriculture to the continent’s future economic prosperity.
The president-elect recently made headlines for voicing his belief that the next generation of African millionaires and billionaires will make their money from the agribusiness, saying, “Africa’s wealth is more than petroleum. It is now time to unlock Africa’s soil wealth via agriculture.”
Adesina was elected from a shortlist of eight candidates, and will take office on 1 September 2015.
