The African Development Bank Has One of the Most Democratic Processes in Electing the President of the Bank

African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina shares thoughts on 10 years of leadership with media at 2025 Annual Meetings. Abidjan. May 2025

28 May 2025

African Development Bank (Abidjan)

This year's Annual Meetings have the extra dynamic of the election of a new President to take over the helm of the institution after ten years under Dr. Akinwumi Adesina. Can you walk us through the key electoral processes and steps until the new President takes office?

The entire process of electing the new President of the African Development Bank Group takes almost a year. At the end of the last Annual Meetings in Nairobi, the Governors took the decision to set the calendar for the election of the President of the Bank. The request for expressions of interest to regional member countries to nominate candidates went out on the 1st of July 2024. Needless to add that a nominee for the Office of President at the Bank shall be "a person of the highest competence in matters pertaining to the activities, management and administration of the Bank and shall be a national of a regional member state".

The closing date and time for the receipt of candidatures was on 31 January 2025, no later than 5:00 p.m., Abidjan, local time. Upon receiving that, my office convened the meeting of the Steering Committee on the Election of the President, which vets the candidates and settles, in accordance with the rule, on the lists of possible candidates.

The list of duly vetted candidates was published and transmitted to the Board of Governors on 21 February 2025. Following that, the processbegan, and will culminate in the candidates taking part in the election during the Annual Meetings. The rules are very clear: The term of office of the serving President ends on 31 August 2025; accordingly, the election of the new President will have to be conducted during the Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Bank before the end of the term of the current President, which is in May 2025. And so, based on the timetable established, that election will take place on the 29th of May, following which a transition period begins - leading to when the new President takes office on the 1st of September 2025.

So that is the process. The African Development Bank has one of the most democratic processes in electing the President of the Bank. It is a member-states driven process. As you know, the candidates, spurred by their countries, have been moving around, campaigning, seeking the support of member states.

And now, one important issue you need to be aware of is how a candidate becomes duly elected as President.

A person will be duly elected President of the Bank when he or she obtains 50.01% of the total voting power of all member countries (including regional and non-regional) and 50.01% of all regional member countries (African countries). That is what we refer to as the double majority, in which case to be President you would have received a double majority during the elections.

As Secretary-General for the past ten years, what are your top three takeaways?

Well, I have not been secretary for ten years yet. This is my ninth year. I'll be nine years by August. So just to be sure, top three takeaways? That's a tough one because there are many takeaways from this job.

But one thing for me is the fact that I left my job to come here mainly from the point of view of being part of seeing impact on the ground. And so, my work results in ordinary Africans benefiting from some level of development.

The African Development Bank Group's 2025 Annual Meetings open next week amidst shifting winds of global trade. The meetings, which will take place from May 26 to 30 in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, the Bank's headquarters, will be held under the theme: "Making Africa's Capital Work Better for Africa's Development."

Forty-seven of Africa's fifty-four countries have been affected by new U.S. trade measures, with 22 facing tariffs of up to 50 percent on a wide range of exports. In the context of evolving U.S. foreign assistance priorities and reduced USAID funding, African nations are navigating a changing landscape where traditional forms of support can no longer be taken for granted.

Secondly, from the point of view of corporate governance as one who functions in that area, the ability to forge some level of cohesion and decision-making is a second way to make an impact. And the third is the commitment of colleagues in seeing Africa develop through the work of the African Development Bank and the African Development Fund.

Of course, there are many other things to take away. In the short nine-year period I've been here, working in this particular position, but also making it possible to see member countries gather in meetings of this nature to interact, to forge the next agenda and to direct management regarding achieving its mandate, is wonderful.

How does an institution like the African Development Bank, approach the current global context of reduced multilateral aid?

Well, the theme of the annual meetings this year tells you this story: 'making Africa's capital work better for Africa's development', and what that speaks to is the realization that aid is diminishing, geopolitics is affecting how the donors behave, and therefore creating the need to look inward. One thing is clear - it is no longer business as usual, and therefore Africa must step up and look inward and generate its own resources.

Because, as is often said, we are a resource-rich continent but poor. How do we change that narrative? As officials of the Bank, we continually interrogate that. And many African citizens also interrogate that.

So, the time has come with the opportunity given to us by the change in the aid landscape to begin to think and look more inward. And we cannot do otherwise.

One last question. Where will the next Annual Meetings take place? And what determines that?

Just to contextualize what we call the annual meeting cycle, the cycle is determined five years in advance. So, five years ago, the hosts of the next five-year schedule of Annual Meetings were determined.

And we're getting to the point where that five-year cycle is coming to an end. Cote d'Ivoire is the third year of that five-year cycle. The next in the cycle is Congo-Brazzaville.

The next cycle will begin after the meetings in Congo-Brazzaville, and that is to be determined at the last Annual Meeting of that cycle, which we will hold in Niger. So, as we speak, the Congo delegation was part of the third preparatory mission. They came here to study what Cote d'Ivoire is doing in preparation, because they will be hosting the Annual Meetings after the meetings in Abidjan, Cote D' Ivoire.

We will launch the process for the next five-year cycle before we end the current five-year cycle in Niger. So, by Niger, we will know who will be hosting from 2028 for the next five years.

Get ready for Congo Brazzaville. As we end in May, we will be engaging the Governor for Congo-Brazzaville towards preparing for the next annual meetings. There's no gap. Preparation for the Annual Meetings starts immediately after the end of the one preceding it.

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