Nigeria has foreclosed any possibility of an ambush during the Thursday election of African Development Bank (AfDB) president as it has almost doubled its voting rights.
Bloomberg reported that the country increased its voting rights to 16.8 per cent as the AfDB annual meetings commence on Tuesday this week.
Nigeria’s Dr Akinwumi Adesina is seeking re-election after his initial tenure which commenced in 2014.
He is the first Nigerian to hold the position since the continental development institution began operations.
Adesina is going into the election as a sole candidate after the African Union Heads of States and Government unanimously endorsed him for the job.
In 2015, the former Agriculture minister was challenged for the job by Chadian Finance Minister, Kordje Bedoumra and Cape Verde’s Agriculture Minister, Cristina Duarte.
Earlier this month, Adesina was finally cleared of multiple allegations of wrongdoing by some faceless bank staff under the guise of whistle-blowers.
Nigeria became the biggest rights holder by far, followed by so-called non-regional members Germany with 7.4 per cent and the US with 5.5 per cent, according to a memorandum sent to governors on August 20.
It boosted its voting power by paying subscriptions it had pledged as part of a general capital before the January deadline.
The annual meetings will take place virtually between August 25 and 27 after they were postponed in May because of the spread of the coronavirus.
“The format of the meetings has been adapted to consider the physical constraints imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic,” it said on its website.
Last month, an independent panel backed an AfDB probe that found no evidence of wrongdoing by Adesina, 60, in his bid to seek re-election as head of the continent’s biggest multilateral lender.
The decision was also a rebuff to US Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, whose rejection of the institution’s ethics committee’s original report led to the review.
In March, the lender issued a $3 billion social bond to help African countries deal with the fallout from the pandemic.
The bank also launched a $10 billion crisis-response facility for African nations.
Its shareholders include 54 nations on the African continent and 27 countries in the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Asia.
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