By Dayo Omoogun
The Board of Governors of the African Development Bank (AfDB), has finally buckled under the sustained pressure mounted by the United States of America
to have the current President of the Bank Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, a Nigerian, probed by an independent body.
It has therefore agreed to authorize an independent review of the report of the ethics committee of the bank’s board of directors on the allegations levied against the President of the Bank, Akinwumi Adesina.
This was contained in a communique which was released and signed by the Chairperson of the Bureau of Board of Governors, Ms Niale Kaba, after the meeting of the bureau board of governors on June 4, 2020, with respect to the complaints against the President of the bank.
In its statement the bank’s board said, ‘’Based on the views of some Governors on the matter and the need to carry every Governor along in resolving it, the Bureau agrees to authorize an independent review of the report of the ethics committee of the board of governors relative to the allegations considered by the ethics committee and the submissions made by the President of the Bank Group thereto in the interest of due process.
‘’The independent review shall be conducted by a neutral high calibre individual with unquestionable experience, high international reputation and integrity within a short time period of not more than two to four weeks maximum, taking the Bank group’s electoral calendar into account.
‘’The Bureau agrees that, within a three to six months period and following the independent review of the ethics committee report, an independent comprehensive review of the implementation of the bank’s group whistleblowing and complaints handling policy should be conducted with a view to ensuring that the policy is properly implemented, and revising it where necessary, to avoid situations of this nature in the future.’’
It will be recalled that the ethics committee of the bank had earlier given Adesina a clean bill of health following allegations of unethical conducts, questionable appointments and contract awards by a group of whistleblowers , a decision which was rejected by the United States Government, the largest shareholder outside Africa, asked for an independent probe of those allegations.
Observers believe that this might be a calculated attempt to scuttle Adesina’s participation in the organisation’s elections which comes up later this year which would see him mounting the saddle for the second term.