Dr. Adesina is the eighth President of the African Development Bank, and the first Nigerian to hold the post. He was Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development for Nigeria.
Championing agricultural investments in one of Africa’s fastest growing economies, Dr. Adesina was aggressively implementing bold policy reforms and pursuing innovative agricultural investment programs to expand opportunities for the private sector, moving agriculture away from a development program to a business.
Dr. Adesina is a consummate scholar of African agriculture and economics with more than 20 years of experience managing successful agricultural programs across Africa.
Until his appointment as Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development in 2011, he was the Vice President of Policy & Partnerships for the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) where he fostered cooperation among African governments, donors, farmers’ organizations and the private sector to stimulate agricultural growth and to unlock new opportunities for farmers.
Dr. Adesina also serves on the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition, recently launched at the G8 Food and Nutrition Summit 2013 in London.
Dr. Adesina has a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University, Indiana, USA and a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Economics (First Class Honours) from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, Nigeria.
Speech by Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina at African Women Heads of State Initiative, Wednesday, March 23, 2022