Former U.S. Executive Director to the AfDB Dr Mima Nedelcovych, says it is in the interest of the U.S. Government to wholeheartedly support the re-election of President Akinwumi Adesina for a second term as he has established the framework for furthering the critically important role that the AfDB is playing in the development and inclusive growth of the continent.
‘’If competing with the Chinese in Africa is primordial to the US, then supporting the position of our African fellow shareholders in the AfDB and supporting President Adesina is in our own interests.”
According to Dr. Nedelcovych, Adesina’s vision and execution of the “High 5s” for Africa, has contributed tremendously to the development of the continent, and President Obasanjo and other former African Presidents have every reason to come out in public support of the champion that the current AfDB President is.
On the whistleblower allegations that triggered the current tensions between AfDB partners, Dr Mima Nedelcovych says the internal inquiry did its job fully in line with statutory guidelines.
“For me, those accusations that were made public and investigated by the Ethics Committee, have been responded to in great detail by President Adesina to my full satisfaction,” says Dr Nedelcovych.
Dr Adesina and the AfDB have stepped up when most needed for an African institution to lead the way in the responses to the Covid-19 pandemic ,says Dr Nedelcovych who also shares his take on expectations for a second Adesina term, and how U.S -African relations have fared under the first term of President Donald Trump.
According to him, the US Governor, as does every shareholder, has the right to question management’s application of policies and guidelines as established by the shareholders themselves.
Speaking on his view of the standoff between the U.S and the AFDB Dr. Nedelcovych described the African Development Bank as the continent’s most prominent and influential multilateral player and as a result one of the few such institutions that the US has a commanding say over the Chinese.
“If competing with the Chinese in Africa is primordial to the US, then supporting the position of our African fellow shareholders in the African Development Bank and supporting President Adesina is in our own interests.”
Dr Mima Nedelcovych served as the 1989 to 1993 U.S. Executive Director to the African Development Bank (AfDB).
“Two years ago, I turned over my mantle as President of the Initiative for Global Development, and returned to Chairing the two companies I have been associated with since departing the AfDB in 1993, AfricaGlobal Partners in DC and Schaffer International in Louisiana. We are both advisers and developers of projects, and our sweet spot is the nexus of agro-industry, clean energy and infrastructure.
I also proudly sit on the Boards of the US owned Vista Bank Group (focused on SME lending) in West Africa, Fayus International, a Sacramento, CA based food processor and distributor operating throughout Africa, and the Niger Delta Partnership Initiative in Nigeria.”
Source: Business Day
