Farmers in Nigeria laud Adesina re-election as AfDB president

Over 40 million Nigerian farmers under the auspices of All Farmers Association of Nigeria, AFAN has hailed Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, over re-election and subsequent inauguration as African Development Bank’s President for a second tenure.

This was contained in a statement signed by the National President, AFAN, Arc Kabir Ibrahim, which they described him as a possessor of requisite qualifications of energy, competence and integrity to lead any financial institution in the world.

It will be recalled that Adesina was re-elected at the 2020 Annual General Meeting, AGM, of the bank, via zoom platform recently after allegations levelled against Adesina before the election were cleared by an independent investigation panel constituted came up with their finding.

The statement reads in part, “The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) on behalf of the 40 million farmers of Nigeria wish to congratulate Dr Akinwumi Ayodeji Adeshina on his re-election and subsequent inauguration for the second time as the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB).

“We are especially proud that Dr Adeshina possesses the requisite qualifications of Energy, Competence and Integrity to lead any Financial Institution in the World.”

Also recalled, according to the AFAN boss, he supported his (Adesina) re-election based on his past working relationship and knowledge, and said he has a rare capability and expertise even when he was Minister of Agriculture

“I supported his re-election based on my working knowledge of his capability when he served as the Honorable Minister of Agriculture in Nigeria meritoriously and I was the National President of the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN)”, he said.

Meanwhile, the farmers expressed optimism that with his (Adesina) second term in office there will be a rapid revolution in the agricultural sector across Africa, and also called for support of African leaders to make him succeed for farmers to receive a boost on productivity along the various value chains, especially in a post-COVID-19 era, which should be a period of massive food production and availability to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and climate change on the continent’s economy, because is also a recovery process, hence huge support is needed from the Bank.