Akinwumi Adesina

Akinwumi Adesina is a Nigerian economist and development finance specialist who served as president of the African Development Bank (AfDB) from 2015 until stepping down on September 1, 2025, after completing two five-year terms, the maximum allowed. Before leading the AfDB he served as Nigeria's Minister of Agriculture and held senior roles at the Rockefeller Foundation and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. As AfDB president he oversaw growth of the bank's capital base to a record $318-billion, maintained its AAA credit rating, and pioneered financing innovations including hybrid capital instruments, synthetic securitisation, partial credit guarantees and the redirection of International Monetary Fund Special Drawing Rights to multilateral development banks. He launched the Africa Investment Forum in 2018, which has mobilised more than $225-billion in investment interest for agribusiness, energy, infrastructure and manufacturing across the continent. Adesina championed the "High Five" strategic priorities for African development, including electrification, industrialisation, regional integration and improved living standards, and pushed for recalculating African countries' GDP to reflect natural capital such as forests and minerals, arguing this would improve debt metrics. He also raised concerns about inequitable pricing in carbon credit markets, describing undervalued African carbon permits as a "carbon grab" by foreign buyers. He advised on Zimbabwe's efforts to resolve its long-standing sovereign debt default. He was succeeded as AfDB president by Mauritania's Sidi Ould Tah, elected in May 2025 amid pressure from proposed US funding cuts to the bank and its concessional lending arm, the African Development Fund.