The crisis rocking the African Development Bank Group, AfDB, is far from being over as the bank’s Board of Governors, Thursday, succumbed to the pressure by the United States of America, USA, by approving an independent investigation of the allegations levelled against the President of the Bank, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina.
The Crest recalls that the Ethics Committee of the bank, headed by Dr. Takuji Yano, had, on May 5, 2020, dismissed all allegations raised by ‘whistle-blowers’ against Nigeria-born Adesina.
The committees rubbished the allegation that the bank’s president breached the code of conduct, describing such insinuations as “spurious and unfounded”.
Yano, a Japanese executive director, had the onerous task of investigating the allegations raised by some concerned employees against Dr. Adesina.
However, the committee’s decision did not go down well with the United States as its Treasury Department demanded that a fresh and in-depth investigation be conducted into the allegations.
The US Treasury Department expressed “deep reservations about the integrity of the committee’s process”, demanding a fresh “in-depth investigation of the allegations” using an independent investigator.
That raised a huge dust across the continent as many leaders decried the US bullying methods and declared their unflinching support for Adesina, who was a Minister of Agriculture in Nigeria prior to his appointment as AfDB President.
Regardless of the protests from Nigeria and friendly African nations, the AfDB Board of Governors rose from its meeting on Thursday and issued a communique, recapitulating from its initial position and succumbed to America’s pressure by authorizing an independent review of the ethic committee’s report.
Below is the communique, signed by the Chairperson of the bank’s Bureau of the Boards of Governors, Niale Kaba:
“The Bureau reiterates that it agrees that the Ethics Committee of the Boards of Directors performed its role on this matter in accordance with the applicable rule under Resolution B/BG/2008/11 of the Board of Governors.
“The Bureau also reiterates that the Chairperson of the Bureau of the Board of Governors performed her role in accepting the findings of the Ethics Committee in accordance with the said Resolution.
“However, based on the views of some Governors on the matter and the need to carry every Governor along in resolving it, the Bureau agrees to authorize an Independent Review of the Report of the Ethics Committee of the Boards of Directors relative to the allegations considered by the Ethics Committee and the submissions made by the President of the Bank Group thereto in the interest of due process.
“The Independent Review shall be conducted by a neutral high calibre individual with unquestionable experience, high international reputation and integrity within a short time period of not more than two to four weeks maximum, taking the Bank Group’s electoral calendar into account.
“The Bureau agrees that, within a three to six month period and following the independent review of the Ethics Committee Report, an independent comprehensive review of the implementation of the Bank Group’s Whistle-Blowing and Complaints Handling Policy should be conducted with a view to ensuring that the Policy is properly implemented, and revising it where necessary, to avoid situations of this nature in the future.”
Though Dr. Adesina has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, he had not reacted to the recapitulation of the Board of Governors as at the time of filing this report.