Nigeria doubles voting rights as AfDB re-elects Adesina Thursday

Nigeria at the weekend nearly doubled its voting rights in the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group to 16.8 per cent as the bank re-elects Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina as its president on Thursday.

Nigeria had 8.5 per cent earlier, but a report by Bloomberg said Nigeria boosted the voting power by paying pledged subscriptions towards the bank’s general capital before the January deadline.

Nigeria, through this move, became the biggest rights holder, followed by non-regional members - Germany (7.4 per cent) and the United States (5.5 per cent), a memorandum sent to governors on August 20 and seen by Bloomberg said.

Adesina from Nigeria who is serving out a five year term since May 2015; by August 27, 2020 (Thursday), the bank will re-elect him for another five-year term through a voting system.

Adesina is also the sole candidate for the election coming in three days, unlike in 2015 when he contested the post with Chadian Finance Minister, Mr. Kordje Bedoumra, and Cape Verde’s Agriculture Minister, Cristina Duarte.

Meanwhile in a statement, the bank said for the first time, its Annual Meetings will be held virtually to comply with the COVID-19 pandemic-related social-distancing guidelines.

The Governors’ Dialogue and the election of a president will be top of the agenda of the upcoming Meetings beginning on Wednesday August 26 and ending Thursday, August 27, 2020.

“This year, which marks the 55th meeting of the Bank’s Board of Governors and the 46th Annual Meeting of the African Development Fund, the Bank’s concessional arm, has the added significance of being an election year for the Bank’s president.”

AfDB said it has supported many regional countries during this COVID-19 pandemic. In April 2020, it established a $10 billion COVID-19 Response Facility, and by August 20, $2.29bn in CRF funding had been approved for member countries with $1.186bn disbursed.