Nigerian Government has dismissed allegations of corruption levelled against Akimwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank, calling on the financial institution to shun calls for a fresh probe on his tenure.
In a letter written by Zainab Ahmed, Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, to Chairman of the Board of Governors of the AfDB, the Nigerian Government expressed support for the work Adesina was doing at the institution.
The letter reads in part, “The call for an ‘independent investigation’ of the President is outside of the laid down rules, procedures and governing system of the bank and its articles as it relates to the Code of Conduct on Ethics for the President.
“As Board of Governors (made up of the finance ministers of member countries), we must uphold the rule of law and respect the governance systems of the bank. If there’s any governance issues that needs improvement, these can be considered and amendments proposed for adoption in line with laid down procedures.
Read Also – Mahmood Ahmadu – Protecting Wealth Creators In Nigeria
“The Nigerian Government welcomes the conclusion of the Ethics Committee and the decision of the Chair of the Board of Governors.
“The Ethics Committee, following three months of work to examine the whistleblowers’ allegations made against the President, dismissed each and every one of the allegations of the whistleblowers against the President as unsubstantiated and baseless.”
Ahmed said Adesina’s accomplishments as head of the AfDB includes securing a General Capital Increase of $115bn, the largest ever in the history of the bank; he led the bank to develop a $10bn Crisis Response Facility for Africa to fight the Coronavirus pandemic as well as leading the bank to launch a $3bn “Fight COVID19” social bond, the largest US dollar denominated social bond ever in world’s history.
The minister said the call for “independent investigation” was outside laid down rules, procedures and guidelines of the laws governing the bank and any changes to that must follow laid down procedures.
