Abidjan (AFP) - In just months, African super-banker Akinwumi Adesina has gone from glory to fighting for his career, battling US demands for a probe into accusations of ethical violations and favouritism.<\/p>\n
In 2015, the son of a farming family wrote another chapter in a remarkable tale, becoming the first Nigerian to helm the African Development Bank (AfDB), one of the world's five largest multilateral development lenders.<\/p>\n
His flamboyant style gained him continent-wide renown, when the AfDB last October secured $115 billion (105 billion euros) in funding pledges -- doubling its capital at a stroke and cementing its glittering triple-A credit rating.<\/p>\n
But with elections for the AfDB presidency looming in August, Adesina's bid for a second term in office is at threat.<\/p>\n
At issue is a 15-page whistleblowers' report which says that under Adesina's watch, the AfDB has been tarred by poor governance, impunity, personal enrichment and favouritism.<\/p>\n
The bank's ethics committee has already exonerated Adesina, saying the allegations rest \"on no objective, solid facts.\"<\/p>\n
- US pressure -<\/p>\n
But any hopes Adesina may have had that this would provide a clear path to election victory have been dashed.<\/p>\n
On May 22, US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin personally signed a letter questioning the outcome of the probe and called on the AfDB's board to appoint an independent investigator to uphold accountability.<\/p>\n
Adesina, 60, fought an intense and vocal rearguard action backed by Nigeria, the biggest of the AfDB's 80 shareholders.<\/p>\n
He lashed at \"allegations that unjustly seek to impugn my honour and integrity\" and invoked \"my heroes, Nelson Mandela and Kofi Annan, whose lives have shown that through pain we grow.\"<\/p>\n
But on Thursday, his campaign received a hefty blow when the board agreed to an independent review, with a four-week deadline.<\/p>\n
\"There has always been behind-the-scenes manoeuvering when there are elections for president of the AfDB, but to have a public controversy on this scale is unheard-of,\" said a diplomatic observer.<\/p>\n
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An Ivorian economist suggested that Adesina's \"outsized personality\" may also have played a part.<\/p>\n
\"He's exuberant, probably too high-profile for the closeted world of the bank -- he even projects an impression of arrogance and of doing what he likes.\"<\/p>\n
Adesina's managerial style came under scrutiny when the bank was shaken by a string of departures after he took over in 2015.<\/p>\n
\"He made himself a lot of enemies in trying to reform the bank,\" the Ivorian economist said, adding that Adesina had a reputation for giving preference to \"English-speakers\" at the bank at the expense of francophones.<\/p>\n
Managers at the bank, speaking on condition of anonymity, say Adesina was better at communicating than at managing and exaggerated his own performance.<\/p>\n
The AfDB plays an important if largely behind-the-scenes role in African economies, financing projects in agriculture, health, energy, education, transport and other development sectors.<\/p>\n
Adesina, a charismatic speaker at home in English or French, and a snappy dresser who favours elegant suits and a bow tie, gave the bank an international visibility that it has rarely gained throughout its 56 years.<\/p>\n
- Humble origins -<\/p>\n
Born to a farming family in Oyo state in southeastern Nigeria, Adesina attended a village school before study agricultural economies at university.<\/p>\n
After gaining a doctorate at Purdue University in Indiana, he became prominent in the development sector, notably working with the Rockefeller Foundation, before being named agriculture minister in 2010.<\/p>\n
He carried out an ambitious range of farming reforms -- an achievement that earned him the honour of Forbes' \"African Man of the Year\" of 2013.<\/p>\n
In 2015, after a fierce lobbying campaign, he was elected president of the AfDB, succeeding Donald Kaberuka, a Rwandan.<\/p>\n
Until the storm erupted, his bid for a second term seemed on track for victory, as it had gained the backing of the African Union and the powerful Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).<\/p>\n
But intervention by the United States -- the bank's second biggest shareholder, which also gained support from eurozone and Nordic countries -- means the outcome is far from clear, say observers.<\/p>\n
Fifty-four of the AfDB's shareholders are African, while others are from the Americas, Asia and Europe.<\/p>\n
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Eye of the storm: African Development Bank chief Akinwumi Adesina - Yahoo News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Abidjan (AFP) - In just months, African super-banker Akinwumi Adesina has gone from glory to fighting for his career, battling US demands for a probe into accusations of ethical violations and favouritism. In 2015, the son of a farming family wrote another chapter in a remarkable tale, becoming the first Nigerian to helm the African Development Bank (AfDB), one of the world's five largest multilateral development lenders Continue reading