Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group, on Tuesday, May 27, reflected on his decade-long tenure, declaring that he gave his “heart, mind, and all” to Africa while leading the institution.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the AfDB’s annual meetings in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, his final meetings as president, Adesina said his stewardship had been guided by a singular mission to fight for what he believed were the best interests of the continent.
“I earnestly gave Africa my heart, my mind and my all,” he said. “I fought for what I believed were in Africa’s best interest, every single day and at every turn in my 10 years as President.”
“I will continue to serve Africa today and well into the future by God’s grace. I am thoroughly convinced that He did not make a mistake in creating me as an African.”
Adesina highlighted the bank’s growth under his leadership, noting that the AfDB disbursed $59 billion in the last 10 years alone — nearly half of all disbursements made since the bank’s establishment in 1964.
“The total disbursements of the bank’s group in the last 10 years alone at $59 billion represent almost half of all the disbursements in the history of the African Development Bank group,” he said.
According to him, while the AfDB approved $118 billion in loans between 1964 and 2014, it approved $102 billion from 2015 to 2025 under his presidency, 46 percent of the bank’s total approvals in its history.
“These are not just numbers,” he said. “Thanks to your collective support, these represent a new dynamism, a scale of the transformative impact of the AfDB Group that at any point in its history, we provided significant financial support to African financial institutions.”
He added that the support extended to commercial banks, regional development finance institutions, and multilateral agencies, helping to boost their capital bases and strengthen the continent’s financial architecture.
Adesina also pointed to a sharp rise in the bank’s capital, from $93 billion in 2015 to $318 billion by 2025.
“When I was first elected President of the Bank in 2015, the capital of the Bank stood at $93 billion,” he said. “From 2015 to 2025, we have grown the Bank’s capital from $93 billion to $318 billion.”
He credited AfDB’s donors for raising $8.9 billion for the African Development Fund’s 16th replenishment (ADF16), the highest in its history, and explained that a new financing model now allows the Fund to access $27 billion from global capital markets.
The outgoing AfDB chief also outlined partnerships with the African Union, including $11.5 million in institutional support, over $17 million for the African Continental Free Trade Area, and more than $27 million for the Africa CDC.
On investment, he said the African Investment Forum, launched in 2018, has attracted $225 billion in interest across several projects.
Summing up the impact of his tenure, Adesina said: “The work of the AfDB has impacted the lives of 565 million people in the past decade.”
