The president-elect of African Development Bank (AfDB) and former minister for agriculture, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, has said that energy sufficiency will top his agenda for Africa when he assumes office in September.
He said the power challenges in Africa are unacceptable because without power, there can be no industrialisation, inclusive growth, private sector growth or agro processing.
Akinwumi, who spoke at a send-forth ceremony on Friday, organised by the Ministry of Agriculture to honour him and his counterpart, the minister of state, Hajiya Asabe Asmau Ahmed, who was conspicuously absent, was optimistic that curbing power challenges will give rise to the much-needed industrialisation Africa is long due for.
He said, “The number one thing on my agenda for Africa is energy; the fact that Africa does not have energy is not acceptable and we cannot have industrialisation, private sector development and agro processing unless we have power”.
“Africa must power itself and with that, we can have industrialisation, be Green and become a global powerhouse in food and agriculture”.
Akinwumi in his appreciation for the support he received during the campaigns said, “I feel so proud as a Nigerian for the tremendous support I received from everybody, particularly the then sitting President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, who nominated me and generously supported me and the then president-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, who made several interventions and worked ceaselessly to ensure we won the elections”.
He described their support as a tremendous boost “because being supported by the sitting president and the incoming president was the greatest boost we could have had”.
Akinwumi said, “It is a great honour to have been called. I did not win elections; I was simply given a responsibility to lead Africa to achieve inclusive growth and I know together, we will build an Africa where we have inclusive growth, prosperity, peace, stability and security and an Africa we will all be proud to call our Africa.”
He assured that there will be no rest for him until poverty is rested in the continent which he assured will happen with the development of power infrastructure across Africa.
Many stakeholders who poured encomiums on the former minister including members of the National Assembly, diplomats, youth farmers, rural farmers and cassava growers among several others, described Adesina as an “outstanding personality who had not only revived the nation’s agriculture but is also set to do Africa and indeed the world proud”.
Proposing a toast to the minister and his wife, Mrs Grace Adesina, former director of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) who is also former VP of the AfDB, Mrs Aruma Oteh, noted that “Akinwumi’s emergence as the president of the AfDB is to be celebrated because in the bank’s over 50 years of existence, this is the first time a Nigerian is emerging as its leader”.
Akinwumi Adesina emerged the AfDB president after securing 58 per cent of the total votes on May 28 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. He will succeed Donald Kaberuka as head of the bank on September 1.
Energy Sufficiency Will Top My Agenda For Africa – Adesina
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