New Markets Investor

Q3 2015Adesina promisedto work hard withall African governmentsto delivermore inclusiveeconomic growthacross the Africancontinent. He saidhe had been givena responsibility tomanage the bankto the best of hisability and thecooperation ofothers.The formerminister, whoacknowledged the‘excellent work’ ofKaberuka, assuredthat he wouldbuild on it, andpromised ‘to be aresponsible president,work hardand be focused.’“I salute the excellent work of PresidentKaberuka. It will be a big challenge forme to step into his shoes. He leaves asolid Bank behind him,” adding “I knowthat Africa’s future is huge and we canmake Africa the pride of the world withall-inclusive growth.”Adesina’s victory came as Nigeria preparedfor the inauguration of the newlyelected administration of President,Muhammadu Buhari. The president hadin April communicated his backing ofDr. Adesina’s candidacy to the GhanaianPresident, John Dramani Mahama, whois the current chairperson of ECOWAS.Buhari said that his support of Dr. Adesina’scandidacy was not just because heis Nigerian but because he “has a proventrack record in a career that predates hisposition as Nigeria’s Minister for Agricultureand Rural Development”.He added that Dr. Adesina had years ofexperience of working in Francophoneand Anglophone countries, and a passionto help eradicate poverty in Africa byreducing unemployment and inequalityamong African youth. The statementfurther adds that “Dr. Adesina is also anagricultural development expert with 24years of experience in developing andmanaging successful agricultural Programmesacross Africa”. He has also heldsenior leadership positions in a numberof agricultural institutions in the world.Adesina, 55, is a PhD holder in AgriculturalEconomics (1988) from the PurdueUniversity, USA, where he had previouslyobtained a Master’s degree in AgriculturalEconomics in 1985. He had baggedBachelor’s degree (First Class honours) inAgricultural Economics from Universityof Ife, Nigeria, in 1981.Until his government appointment in2010, he was the Vice President of Policyand Partnerships for the Alliance for aGreen Revolution in Africa (AGRA).Prior to that, he had worked at the RockefellerFoundation since winning a fellowshipfrom the Foundation as a seniorscientist in 1988. From 1999 to 2003 hewas the representative of the Foundationfor the southern African region.Adesina is credited with notable reformsin the agriculture sector that have attractedunprecedented level of investmentinto the sector.As part of the reforms in the sectors,transparency in the administration anddistribution of fertilisers have abatedcorruption and corrupt tendencies in theprocesses, hitherto a cesspit of graft.‘New Markets Investor’ interviewed Dr.Adesina in 2013 where he expressed hiswish to reverse the transition that hadchanged Nigeria from a major agriculturalexporter to a major importer.According to official figures, within thelast three years, food import in the countryhas dropped significantly from N1trillion to N466 billion.During his tenure bank lending to theagricultural sector has leaped from 1%in 2010 to 6% in 2014 as a direct resultof his project ‘NIRSAL’, an agribusinessinitiative that provides risk management,financing, trading, and strategic solutionsNew Markets Investor87