The African Development Bank (AfDB) has announced that Dr. Akinwunmi Adeshina, its president and former minister of agriculture under ex-president Goodluck Jonathan, will visit Nigeria today, Monday, September 26 to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari.
The AfDB says Adesina will “meet policy-makers, the private sector, and development partners to discuss the challenges facing Nigeria and highlight the AfDB’s commitment to further strengthen its partnership with Nigeria”.
“I am very much looking forward to my first official visit to Nigeria as President of the AfDB. Nigeria is a vital shareholder and partner for the Bank. The Nigerian economy is in a critical phase, and in these difficult times, we have to make sure we all work together to tackle the challenges facing Africa’s largest economy,” Adesina said ahead of his trip.
Adesina is expected to hold a series of meetings with the leaders in Nigeria, including President Muhammadu Buhari, minister of finance Kemi Adeosun, and Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele.
Adeshina will also “take part in a roundtable discussion with philanthropic leaders and hold discussions with the private sector, as well as development partners. Adesina will also receive an award by the Nigerian Economic Society”.
Nigeria is one of the AfDB’s founders, its biggest shareholder and one of the largest beneficiaries of AfDB’s assistance.
Meanwhile, the acting National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Comrade Timi Frank has asked Nigeria’s former First-lady, Dame Patience Jonathan to go and clear her name before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) rather than resorting to under-hand tactics to armtwist the anti-graft agency into doing her bidding.
Frank in a statement issued on Sunday, September 25 in Abuja, said the immediate-past First-lady is not above the law, describing as shameful, threats by a Niger Delta militant group and the protest at the Port Harcourt zonal office of the EFCC in support of Mrs Jonathan, over the freezing of her dollar account containing about $31.4 million.