AfDB President, Adesina, Wins 2023 Awolowo Prize for Leadership

Ayodeji Ake  and Ugo Aliogo in Lagos

The Selection Committee of the Obafemi Awolowo Prize for Leadership, yesterday, announced the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, as the winner of the 2023 Awolowo Prize for Leadership.  

Addressing newsmen at the press conference held in Lagos, the Chairman of the committee, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, revealed that there were several entries for the prize, but after critical scrutiny  the participants, Adesina was found worthy of the prize.  
Anyaoku  described the former Minister of Agriculture as a transformation and development leader who served diligently and fought corruption in the agricultural sector during his tenure.  

He further noted that Adesina, as the president of AfDB, has contributed immensely to the development of Nigeria and is still very active in the development discourse of the nation.  

He said: “After a careful, detailed, and rigorous screening process, the Selection Committee was unanimous in deciding the recipient of this year’s Prize. I have great pleasure in informing you that the considered view of the Selection Committee is that of all the nominees presented before it, the person adjudged to possess the attributes for the award to the highest degree and therefore is the recipient of the 2023 Obafemi Awolowo Prize for Leadership is Dr Akinwunmi Ayodeji Adesina, CON, President of the African Development Bank.

“Dr Adesina, a former Nigerian Minister of Agriculture in the administration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, is currently serving a second term as President of the African Development Bank. Besides being a Pan Africanist with an enthusiastic commitment to the positive transformation of the continent, he has demonstrated core leadership qualities that have been associated with Chief Obafemi Awolowo, and which this Prize is meant to encourage and reward. Besides his manifest intellectual leadership, Dr. Adesina is a person whose outstanding leadership has occasioned public policies that have positively transformed millions of lives.