Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, a distinguished, Nigerian, an outstanding public servant,an eternal optimist and a first class farmer (with a bow tie) .

Dr. Adesina for short is brilliant, very smart, charismatic, speaks in quotable sound bites and loaded with international and government experience. He can hold a room, with style and a smile, sporting a trademark bow tie and quip for all occasions.
Whenever he discusses the implementation of his projects at Africa Development Bank or discusses Africa, he’s always doing it with passion.

With a very clear vision, powered by an irrepressible passion, Adesina unleashed Africa’s passion to feed itself and lift millions of its people out of poverty into wealth.
Dr Adesina described himself as ….

May 28th, 2015, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina made history when he was elected as the 8th President of Africa Development bank thus becoming the first Nigerian to occupy that exalted position since the establishment of the Bank in 1964.

AKINWUMI ADESINA IMPECCABLE RECORDS

Dr Akinwumi promised to make African Development bank a world first class bank and substantially improve the patronage and customer experience. And he did it.
Armed with a sharp vision for a much improved quality of life for Africans, he launched 5 priorities (High 5s) for Africa’s accelerated development.
The High 5 priorities - Light Up and Power Africa; Feed Africa; Integrate Africa; Industrialize Africa; and Improve the Quality of Life of the People of Africa- are rapidly transforming Africa and have received massive support all across Africa and globally.

An independent analysis by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has shown that achieving these High 5s will allow Africa to achieve 90% of the Agenda 2063 and the SDGs. Dr. Akinwumi Adesina did it!.

• In less than five years of his first term mandate the following unprecedented impacts were achieved:

• 18 million people were provided with access to electricity, through “Light Up and Power Africa”.

• 141 million people gained access to improved agricultural technologies for food security, through “Feed Africa”

• 13 million people benefited from access to finance from private sector investment projects, through “Industrialize Africa”.

• 101 million people from access to better transport through “integrate Africa”

• 60 million people benefit from improved access to water and sanitation under “Improved quality of life for the people of Africa.

• In summary: Under Dr. Adesina’s leadership, in less than five years, the Bank’s investments have benefitted and impacted a total of 333 million Africans - an impact unprecedented since the Bank’s establishment in 1964.

Dr. Adesina has continued to manage the Bank exceptionally well. The evidence is overwhelming:
Whatever projects or business Dr. Akinwumi Adesina gets involved with,it becomes instantly successful.

• Dr. Adesina led a bold move to expand the capital of the Bank to help further accelerate the continent’s development. The Bank successfully achieved a historic 125% increase in its capital in October 2019, increasing by $115 billion, from $93 Billion to $208 Billion. On record,this is the highest ever in the history of the Bank.

• The African Development Bank’s concessional window, the African Development Fund (ADF) was successfully replenished in December 2019. Donor’s contributions to ADF 15 increased by 35%, which will make more funding available to support Low Income Countries and Transition States on the continent.

Adesina was born in February 1960 to the family of a farmer Mr. Ronald Folorunso Adesina and Eunice Adesina in an ancient city of Ibadan, Western Nigeria. With little money, young Akinwumi Ayodeji went to a village school.
From very humble beginnings and determination to rise out of poverty, young Akinwumi showed signs of success very early. He saw education as a “leveller that will make the child of a poor man stand shoulder to shoulder with children of the rich and famous”, words his father, Roland Adesina, engraved in his heart.

RECOGNITION, AWARDS AND HONORS FROM EVERY CORNER OF THE WORLD
Recognitions and accolades came in droves to celebrate Adeshina vision, passion and the transformative impacts of his several innovations.

Steve Censky, Deputy Secretary , United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) was so impressed, hear what he said about Dr Adesina…..
In October 2017, Purdue University, USA decorated Dr Akinwumi Adesina with its highest honour, the Order of the Griffin, recognising his vision to boost up agricultural economy in Africa, a rare honour given only to 50 persons since 1893, including to Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon. Dr Akinwumi Ayodeji Adesina a, nigerian born world renowned agric economist, made history again.

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