Akinwunmi Adesina of Nigeria, left, and
Sidi Tah, Mauritania

Abubakar Hashim

The next election for the 9th President of the African Development Bank AfDB on May 29, 2025, to be held at the bank’s headquarters in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, will be highly competitive.

There are currently 5 candidates for the race, cleared by the bank’s steering committee of the board of governors, in a statement of a two-day meeting held at the bank’s headquarters in Abidjan.

The current 8th AfDB President, Akinwunmi Adesina, was elected in 2015, re re-elected in 2020. During his two terms, he embarked on strong and strategic reforms that have beefed up the bank’s profits, performance and profile.

Five candidates are among the likely successors. At the top of the list is Sidi Ould Tah, from Mauritania. He is currently DG BADEA, the Arab Bank for Development and former Minister of Finance in Mauritania.

Others include Hott Ahmadu from Senegal, Maimbo Munzele, Zambia, Tolli Mahamat, Chad and Tshabalala Swazi, South Africa.

They are all qualified and make the election highly competitive.

The election results will definitely affect the development agenda in Africa’s infrastructure, economic growth and climate resilience, amid a challenging global economy.

Today, 80 member countries constitute the AfDB, 60% African, 40% Non-African.

The US and Japan are the largest shareholders, with 15.9% investment stakes each, while Nigeria has the largest African investment of 9%.

Whoever succeeds Adesina as the next President of AfDB will continue on the current trajectory of industrialisation of Africa’s economic potential, particularly in Agriculture (in the area of agro processing zones) and value addition to agricultural products.

Adesina has left behind a strong and virile institution that can compete with any global development bank in the US, Europe or Asia.

*Abubakar Hashim is our West Africa Bureau Chief