Nigeria’s outgoing Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, would officially assume office as President of Africa Development Bank

(AfDB) on September 1, 2015.

This was disclosed by the bank shortly after Adesina was elected Thursday, May 28, 2015 as the eighth president of the institution at the 2015 Annual meeting to mark the fifth anniversary of the bank in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.

An emotional Adesina who warded off strong challenges from Chad and six other candidates, described his election as a huge responsibility,

saying, “Today, I have been given a great responsibility.”

After his name was announced by Albert Toikeusse Mabri, Minister of Planning and Development for Côte d’Ivoire, and Chairman of the Board of Governors of the African Development Bank, Adesina said, “I am humbled by this remarkable vote of confidence on me.”

He secured 58 per cent of the votes in the final round of voting at the meeting held at the Sofitel Hotel in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on Thursday, and would succeed Donald Kaberuka as head of the bank.

His closest challenger in the contest was Chadian Finance Minister Kordje Bedoumra, who secured 32 per cent of the votes. His was trailed by his counterpart from Cape Verde, Cristina Duarte, who scored 10 per cent from the election.

Voting was among the Bank’s the Bank’s Board of Governors, including 54 regional member countries, 26 non-regional, whose voting powers are weighted. Adesina succeeds Donald Kaberuka, whose second term as President of the Bank ends on August 31, 2015.

Adesina’s election bears a different colouration from Kaberuka’s in 2005, as the outgoing president won with a resounding 78 per cent majority.

Outgoing AfDB President Donald Kaberuka, also paid tribute to Adesina, saying, “To my incoming successor, my very best wishes.”

He, however, handed him a note of caution. “Ten years goes by very quickly. It is a complex and merciless job, but very exciting. It is, in fact, not a job  but a mission,” Kaberuka said.

The other candidates in the election were Sufian Ahmed (Ethiopia); Jaloul Ayed (Tunisia); Kordjé Bedoumra (Chad);

Cristina Duarte (Cape Verde); Samura M. W. Kamara (Sierra Leone); Thomas Z Sakala (Zimbabwe) and Birama Boubacar Sidibé (Mali) Previous Presidents of the bank include Mamoun Beheiry (Sudan), President, African Development Bank, 1964-1970; Abdelwahab Labidi (Tunisia), President, African Development Bank, 1970-1976; Kwame Donkor Fordwor (Ghana), African Development Bank, 1976-1980; Willa Mung’Omba (Zambia), President, African Development Bank, 1980-1985; Babacar N’diaye (Senegal), President, African Development Bank, 1985-1995; Omar Kabbaj (Morocco), President, African Development Bank, 1995-2005;  and Donald Kaberuka (Rwanda), President, African Development Bank, 2005.