Akinwumi Adesina
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Akinwumi Adesina (born 6 February 1960) is a Nigerian economist who served as the President of the African Development Bank from 2015 to 2025. He previously served as Nigeria's Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development. Until his appointment as Minister in 2010, he was Vice President of Policy and Partnerships for the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). He was elected as the President of the African Development Bank in 2015 and re-elected for a second term in 2020. He is the first Nigerian to hold the position.
Quotes
[edit]- I do not seek aid for Africa. I seek investments in Africa.
- To industrialize, Africa must solve its major challenge with very low access to electricity.
- Together, let our roots of prosperity grow downwards and bear fruit upwards.
- The success of the African Continental Free Trade Area depends on closing Africa’s infrastructure deficits
- African countries must now learn to develop via investment discipline; countries can no longer rely on aid for growth or count it as part of government revenue, as has been the case for decades. Benevolence is not an asset class.
- Africa must act fast to solve big problems, invest in youth and curb migration.
- I’m impatient with Africa’s underdevelopment, and I think we need to move much faster. Why should everything good in African people’s lives be in the future? We’ve got to be able to solve big problems very quickly because the poor can’t wait.
- I don’t accept that African institutions need to be mediocre. I’m not used to mediocrity at all. I believe in big transformational things but I don’t believe in the power of I or me. I believe in the power of us, the ability to get people to focus, to work together. It’s not about ego, it’s not about you. It’s about the ability to forge alliances and strategic partnerships that bring the future of those poor people that we’re supposed to be serving, bring it with a high discount rate to now.
- I look at all the commercial banks in Africa, and I see that we’re not lending to young people. All our young people are flying out, and that makes me ashamed as the president of the African Development Bank. I can’t take it.
- Why can’t we have Zuckerbergs coming out of Africa? Why can’t we have Bill Gates coming out of Africa?
- Africa cannot rely on the benevolence of others; investment is the strategy. Hard-nosed investments bringing in private capital are necessary to unlock Africa's assets.
- I don't believe the future of Africa's youth lies in Europe. It doesn't lie in the United States. It doesn't lie anywhere else. We have to build highly competitive industrial value chain that we can trade among ourselves, that we can get the skills, some of the people that are leaving, they come back. When we build those chains, we retain talent. We attract talent. Our young people will do that so if you want to create more jobs, build industries.
- When you export raw materials, that is the door to poverty.
- For me, inequality is not something that is a theoretical concept. I went to a village school in which I had to walk kilometers to go find water. And so, I know very well how that is.
- Poverty is not a statistic. There's a mother, there's a child, there's a farmer, there's a rural community that needs access to electricity, to water, to sanitation, to health. You can't just depend on the benevolence of others.
- This is not a job. If anyone is looking for a job, please don't take it. This is not a job. This is a mission.
- My wife Grace and staff would tell you, for ten years I have had no life. Completely zero. I worked every single day. Every single step.
- Serving as President of the African Development Bank Group has been the greatest honor of my life. It has been a decade of relentless purpose, of enduring passion, and of tireless service.
- The High 5s have impacted on the lives of over 565 million people across Africa,” Adesina said. “These are not just figures. They are futures. They are hopes realized.
- The responsibility of that leader is to build on the past, to look far into the future, and to find within themselves what courage it takes to stand up for Africa's interests. To make sure that Africa's voice is never silenced on issues that matter globally and where it matters globally.
- Every time that I see a problem, my approach is not to just complain that people aren’t giving you enough; you have to figure out some innovation that will allow you to address the problem. That is what we have done for climate change.
- We are simplifying procedures, we’re holding ourselves accountable in terms of how we report, we’re communicating, and we are also playing our part in the global commitments that have been made.
- The multilateral development banks will play their role, but they need to have significantly increased capital. They need more paid-in capital to be able to take more risk for the private sector. And third, you cannot deal with climate issues by just doing more loans. A lot of what is being done today is more loans. Countries need more grants.
- Some people think that it’s just the African Union going to set up some agency for itself. Actually, it would be an independently-run, top-notch professional agency that provides the counterfactuals. When you go to the doctor and run tests, you have the right to ask for a second opinion, don’t you? Yes, so it’s time to do that.
