Akinwumi Adesina

Akinwumi Adesina
Born	Template:Birth year and age Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria
Occupation(s)	Economist, politician
Years active	1988–present
Known for	President of the African Development Bank, Nigeria's Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development

Akinwumi Adesina is a Nigerian economist currently serving as the President of the African Development Bank. He held the position of Nigeria's Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development from 2010 until 2015. Before this ministerial role, he was the Vice President for Policy and Partnerships at the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). Adesina was initially elected as President of the African Development Bank in 2015 and secured re-election in 2020, marking him as the first Nigerian to occupy this leadership role.

Early life and education

Originating from a farming background in Ibadan, Oyo state, Adesina attended Ejigbo Baptist High School. He graduated with First Class Honors in Agricultural Economics from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) in 1981, becoming the first student to achieve this distinction. He advanced his studies at Purdue University in Indiana, briefly returning to Nigeria in 1984 to marry. Adesina earned his Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics at Purdue in 1988, receiving an award recognizing his exceptional dissertation.

Career

Between 1990 and 1995, Adesina worked as a senior economist at the West African Rice Development Association (WARDA) based in Bouaké, Ivory Coast. He joined the Rockefeller Foundation in 1988 as a senior scientist and later served as its Southern African representative from 1999 to 2003, followed by his role as associate director for food security from 2003 to 2008.

Serving as Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture from 2010 to 2015, Adesina gained acclaim as Forbes African Man of the Year for his efforts in reforming agriculture and enhancing transparency within the fertilizer distribution system. His initiative to provide mobile phones to farmers was impeded by limited network coverage.

In 2010, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon selected him among seventeen global leaders dedicated to advancing the Millennium Development Goals. That same year, he was awarded the Borlaug CAST Communication Award, named after Nobel Prize laureate Norman Borlaug.

Adesina was elected President of the African Development Bank on 28 May 2015 and began his tenure on 1 September that year. In September 2016, Ban Ki-moon appointed him to the Lead Group of the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement. His work in food security earned him the World Food Prize in 2017.

He secured a second five-year term as AfDB President on 27 August 2020. In March 2024, Adesina received the Obafemi Awolowo Leadership Award during a ceremony in Lagos.

His current term is scheduled to end in September 2025, when former Mauritanian finance minister Sidi Ould Tah is expected to take over as President of the AfDB.

Personal life

While studying at Purdue University, Adesina and his wife collaborated with another couple to establish the African Student Fellowship, a Christian organization.

Awards and Honors

• 2010, Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) Borlaug CAST Communication Award
• 2013, Person of the Year by Forbes Africa
• 2015, Featured among the Top 100 Most Influential Africans by New African magazine
• 2018, Conferred Honorary Doctorate by Afe Babalola University
• 2019, Recipient of Forbes Africa Person of the Year award for the second occasion
• 28 January 2020, Awarded Honorary Doctor of Science by Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria
• 14 May 2022, Received Honorary Doctorate from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, recognizing contributions to economics
• 2023, Granted Doctor of Science degree from Veritas University Abuja
• 2024, Bestowed Honorary Doctor of Business Administration by Bayero University, Kano

National

• • Awarded Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic in 2012

Foreign

• • Designated Chief of the Order of the Golden Heart (CGH) in 2025
  • Honored as Grand Officer of the Order of Valour in 2017
  • Granted Honorary Grand Commander status of the Order of the Republic of The Gambia in 2023
  • Received Grand Cordon distinction from the Order of the Star of Africa in 2018
  • Appointed Grand Officer of the National Order of Niger in 2017
  • Decorated as Grand Officer of the National Order of the Lion in 2015
  • Named Grand Commander of the Order of Mono in 2018
  • Earned Grand Officer rank within Tunisia’s National Order of Merit in 2019