An international civil servant, renowned development economist and agricultural expert, Dr.Akinwunmi Ayodeji Adesina is the President of the African Development Bank Group with share capitalization of about $100 Billion.
Dr Akinwunmi Adesina obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural economics from the University of Ife (Now Obafemi Awolowo University) and his Masters and Ph.D. respectively from Purdue University, USA.
His working career is enriching. As an associate then Regional Director for the Southern Africa Office of the Rockefeller Foundation, he initiated various programmes to develop markets for African farmers, philanthropy for African business leaders and improved access to education.
He was also Vice-President (Policy & Partnerships) of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) in which capacity he attracted over 4 billion US Dollars in financial commitments to the continent’s agricultural development.
A bold reformer, as Minister, Dr. Adesina turned the agricultural sector of Nigeria around within four years. Under his tenure, Nigeria ended 40 years of corruption in the fertilizer sector by developing and implementing an innovative electronic wallet system, which directly provide farmers with subsidized farm inputs at scale, using their mobile phones. Within the first four years of launch, this electronic wallet system reached 15 million farmers, dramatically transforming their lives. The electronic wallet system has now gone global and is currently being used in Afghanistan and several African Countries.
Due to his initiatives in the Agricultural sector, Nigeria successfully attracted $5.6billion in private sector investments. Under his leadership, Nigeria’s food production expanded by an additional 21 million metric tonnes.
A prolific writer with over 70 scholarly publications on policy and development issues, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina was President of the African Association of Agricultural Economists and on the Editorial Boards of many academic journals including the International Journal of Agricultural Economists.
Recognized nationally and globally, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina holds the Nigerian national award of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) as well as the highest national awards of Senegal, Madagascar, Togo, Liberia and Niger. He was appointed by the then UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon as one of 17 world leaders to galvanize international support for the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); and serves on the global panel on Agriculture & Food Systems for Nutrition.
Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina is the winner of the World Food Prize (better known as the “Nobel Prize for Agriculture”, which prize money of 250,000 US Dollars he devoted to support youths in agriculture and develop a new generation of world hunger fighters); he was also ranked in the top 15 of the 100 most influential global leaders of multi-lateral development organizations as well as among the 100 most reputable people in the world. Similarly, he is a recipient of Purdue University’s highest honour — the Order of the Griffin; Sunhak Peace Prize in Seoul, South Korea for his global leadership in agriculture, food security, transparency and good governance; again dedicating his half-a-million US Dollars award money to the World Hunger Fighters Foundation which he set up to combat global hunger.
A Distinguished Africanist Scholar at Cornell University, USA & Grand Commander of Great Ife; Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina also holds the prestigious YARA Prize from Oslo, Norway ,the Borlaug CAST Communication Award from Agricultural Science and Technology, USA (for his global leadership in those sectors) and Forbes (Magazine) Africa Man of the Year Award for 2013 and numerous Honorary Doctorate degrees.
He is happily married to Grace Adesina and they have two children and a grand-daughter.
Ladies & Gentlemen, it is our great honour to invite Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina to receive the HLF-Emeka Anyaoku Life-Time Achievement Award for Nigeria’s Outstanding International Icon.
Accept our hearty congratulations!