– Says he made Nigeria and Africa proud
– Asks the Nigerian government to give him the country’s highest honor
THE Coalition of United Political, CUPP, has heaped generous accolades on the outgoing President of the African Development Bank, AfDB, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, who is rounding off his two-term tenure in that capacity.
In a Press Release signed by the Coalition’s national publicity Secretary, Comrade Mark Adesina Adebayo in Abuja, CUPP praised “the revolutionary and transformational leadership” that Dr Adesina applied in improving the effectiveness of the AfDB.
“Dr. Akinwumi Adesina has represented Nigeria and Africa well on the global stage and we are so proud of the revolutionary and transformational leadership that he applied to put the African Development Bank on the global stage of competitiveness and institutional efficiency.
“Under Dr. Adesina’s presidency, Africa 50 was set up which became a first rate private equity infrastructure investment platform that has portfolio companies now worth over Seven Billion Dollars!
“His presidency powered multilevel institutional supports for Africa, including the African Union, Africa Centre for Disease Control, the African Continental Free Trade Area, etc, that run into over hundreds of millions of dollars. Over $225 billion in investment interests in Africa has been mobilized by African Investment Forum launched in 2018, among other unprecedented success stories.
“Dr. Akinwumi Adesina’s transformational leadership has in the last ten years placed the AfDB on the zenith of global leadership in financial innovations. The application of ‘synthetic securitization’ by the bank in 2015, shortly after Dr. Adesina took over as president was unprecedented as it was the first multilateral development bank in the world to execute such. He led AfDB to lead globally in financial innovation and strategic interventions .
“The AfDB became the number one sought-after financial institution globally with G7 and G20 in active partnership with the Bank. This is partly due to the fact that throughout Dr. Adesina’s ten-year leadership, AfDB maintained stellar AAA-credit ratings. This was achieved despite the ravaging scourge of the Covid-19 pandemic that humbled and crippled many financial institutions worldwide.
“What is more? AfDB under Adesina accrued its highest income in the over sixty years of its existence.
“For these sterling performances, Dr. Akinwumi Ayodeji Adesina deserves to be celebrated by all Nigerians as a good Ambassador of our dear nation, Nigeria. We equally call on the Federal Government of Nigeria to bestow him with the country’s highest honor. If a foreign country like Kenya could honor him with that country’s highest honor, his home country should emulate that great gesture and do the needful. Let us celebrate our best materials when they are still alive. We salute Dr. Akinwumi Adesina for his great and transparent leadership, we congratulate Nigeria for giving Africa its very best, we congratulate Africa for having Akinwumi Ayodeji Adesina as a son”.
