AFRICA – The Executive Council of the African Union has supported Dr. Akinwumi Adesina’s candidacy for a second term as President of the African Development Bank.
The decision was taken during the thirty-sixth Ordinary Session of the AU Executive Council, held during the AU Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Dr Adesina was elected to his first term as President by the Bank’s Board of Governors at its Annual Meetings in Abidjan on May 2015.
He is the eighth President of the African Development Bank Group and the first Nigerian in the post.
During his first term, the Bank’s shareholders approved a landmark $108 billion capital increase in late October.
The increase in the capital base, from $93 billion to $208 billion, signalled strong support from the Board of Governors in the continent’s foremost financial institution.
Dr Adesina is a renowned development economist who has held a number of high-profile international positions, including with the Rockefeller Foundation, and as Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development from 2011 to 2015.
The Executive Council is composed of foreign ministers or such other ministers or authorities as are designated by the governments of Member States.
The Executive Council coordinates and takes decisions on policies in areas of common interest to Member States and is only answerable to the Union Assembly.
It also considers issues referred to it and monitors the implementation of policies formulated by the Assembly.
The Executive Council makes decisions by consensus or, where consensus is not possible, by a two-thirds majority vote by Member States.
Matters of procedure, including the question of whether a matter is one of procedure or not, are decided by a simple majority.
Two-thirds of AU members are required to form a quorum at any Executive Council meeting.
In December 2019, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) also endorsed Adesina for a second term as Bank chief. The election will again take place at the Bank’s Annual Meetings in May in Abidjan.
