Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Akinwunmi Adesina, has been elected the eighth president of the African Development Bank (AfDB) today. He will succeed President Donald Kaberuka, whose 10-year tenure ends in September this year.
Adesina won the election having garnered 58.10 per cent of the total votes, out of which regional votes represented 60.50 per cent.
He was followed by Chad’s Minister of Finance and Budget, Kordje Bedoumra, who was came a distant second with 31.62 per cent of total votes and 36.63 per cent of regional votes while the only woman in the race, Minister of Finance and Planning of Cabo Verde, Cristina Duarte, polled 10.27 per cent of the total votes out of which regional votes represented 2.87 per cent.
Adesina becomes the AfDB president after three attempts by Nigeria and the country’s first time in the institution’s 50 years of existence
