FEATURE: Leadership lessons from AfDB’s Akinwumi Adesina, By Femi Adesina

It is not the end. Not yet. But it was the beginning of the end. President of African Development Bank (AfDB), Nigeria’s Dr Akinwumi Adesina, was hosting the last Annual Meetings of the Board of Governors in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, as his 10 years at the helm of affairs of the Bank lapses on August 31. A new President resumes September 1.

Two weeks ago, I had received a phone call from Ms Lola Visser-Mabogunje, Special Adviser on Stakeholder Engagement to the AfDB boss, that Dr Adesina would like to invite me as Special Guest at the Annual Meetings. I scanned my schedule for May 26-30, and saw that I could make it. She said I should expect a formal invitation.

Within minutes, I received the invitation by email from a certain Liliane Kouawo, who serves in the Cabinet Office of President Adesina. Efficiency in action. First indication of an institution that is systematic and structured.

So I set forth at dawn on Monday, May 26. Abidjan was to be my abode for the next five days.

Participants were in thousands, as they came from the 81 countries that constitute the AfDB (54 from Africa, and 27 from other regions of the world).

Seeing the turnout, and the involvement of Dr Adesina in the daily proceedings, I didn’t expect that I would have a private meeting with him. But I was wrong. On Thursday, May 29, he asked Ms Lola Visser-Mabogunje if I was around, and that he would love to see me at a certain time in his office at Sofitel Hotel, where the events were taking place. I was pleasantly surprised.

At the dot of the appointed time, I was ushered into the office. While in the waiting room, I had picked from the aides that Dr Adesina was almost in a faint before he closed the previous day. Completely knackered, exhausted from too many events and meetings.

But the man received me warmly, not looking the worse for wear. Spick and span. Well groomed as usual.

Pleasantries over, he began on a note of appreciation for our immediate past President, Muhammadu Buhari, for the robust support he enjoyed from him. And to me, gratitude for all the press releases I did on their various meetings, and the subsequent articles I wrote, when some elements didn’t want him to have a second term as Governor in 2020.

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“President Buhari asked me; did you steal money? Did you misappropriate funds? I said no. And he said: ‘I will not only be behind you, I will also be beside you.’ “

President Buhari lived up to his word, writing personal letters and making phone calls to presidents of AfDB member countries, asking them to support Adesina. The rest is history.

Never forget a good turn. It is a hallmark of decency. And of leadership. Many times, Dr Adesina has expressed appreciation to President Buhari, and this evening, he couldn’t say the last of it. For me, another lesson in leadership.

We didn’t rise from the meeting till he had invited me to a private dinner in his home.

The election to pick a successor held on May 29. Though there were whispers, nobody could say definitively that this was Adesina’s favorite. Contestants came from Senegal, Chad, Zambia, Mauritania, and South Africa. But like a good leader, there was no anointed person. At the end, Sidi Ould Tah of Mauritania won. Free and fair process, from a fair minded leader, who didn’t say the election would be do or die in favor of his candidate.

As busy as he was, (no, not busy, swamped is the word), Dr Adesina is still on top of events at the Bank. This was evident when he gave the welcome speech on Tuesday, May 27, at the opening ceremony. Though it was no valedictory yet, it was like a report card. How he raised the Bank’s capital from 93 billion dollars in 2015, to 325 billion as of today. How his High 5s programs have impacted not less than 565 million lives across the continent in the areas of healthcare, food security, transport, electricity, and water access. And there was almost no ‘I’ but ‘we’ in the speech. It was himself and his battery of dedicated workers. Another lesson in leadership. Success is team work.

When he began to thank African leaders, and particularly Alasanne Quattara of Côte d’Ivoire, his voice broke, and he was almost overcome by emotion. He reached for his handkerchief, and dabbed at his eyes. Yes, leaders are no superhuman. They itch like ordinary people, and scratch as hard. Sentiment and emotions are part of life, and by no means antithetical to leadership.

He appealed to whoever would be his successor (this was before the election) to please continue with the strides they had attained. Yes, a good leader must be conscious of the sustenance of legacy.

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On my way out of Abidjan, at different desks in the airport; immigration, customs, security, whenever they checked my passport, and saw that I was Adesina, they asked if I was blood brother to the AfDB boss. One said, “He speaks fluent French. I just love him.” Another said: “He has done well for Africa.”

I felt very proud.

Abidjan was some sort of farewell for Adesina, though a formal one may still come in August. Shakespeare said in Act 5, Scene1 of Julius Caesar: “If we do meet again, why we shall smile. If not, why then this parting was well made.”

Adesina was Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Buhari, 2015-2023