Tag Archives: ADESINA

Get ready to see Buhari in flesh – Presidency alerts Nigerians

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The Presidency has said that Nigerian should be ready to see President Muhammadu Buhari as soon as possible.

The senior special adviser to the President on Media, Mallam Garba Shehu stated this in a telephone interview with Channels Sunrise Daily on Tuesday.

On US President’s phone conversation, Mallam Shehu said: “It shouldn’t surprise anyone that President Trump made the choice of making the first African call to the President Of Nigeria”.

“Nigerians should be getting ready to see the president in flesh, as soon as possible,” he said.

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed his sadness over the death of Hajiya Tasallah Fika, the wife of former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Adamu Fika, Wazirin Fika.

In a telephone call from London to the bereaved Wazirin, the President said the loss of such a devoted wife of many years was particularly a painful and challenging moment in the life of any husband.

 

Source: www.nigerianeye.com

?AfDB $800 Million Support For Agric Underway– Adesina

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The President, African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina has disclosed plans to launch $800 million scheme to support the agriculture sector.

Adesina said the initiative called the Technology for African Agriculture Transformation (TAAT) was part of efforts designed to encourage technological innovation in the sector.

The AfDB president made this known at the opening of the African Economic Conference (ACE) organised by the bank in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Monday in Abuja.

He said the scheme when implemented would reach 40 million farmers in one year.

He added that another $24 billion would be used to support Nigeria’s agric sector to fight hunger and post-harvest loses.

His words: “To take new agricultural technologies to scale, we are launching $800m initiative known as TAAT. It has a goal of reaching over 40 million farmers in 10 years. We must equally reduce the food system losses along the value-chain from the farm, transport, storage, processing and marketing.”

The AfDB president called for a rapid and inclusive bottom up approach to addressing challenges facing the agriculture sector.

He identified poor infrastructure and access to finance as major challenges, stressing that it became imperative to develop the Staple Crops Processing Zones (SCPZ).

Adesina added that the initiative would also reduce post-harvest losses.

The AfDB president urged African nations to invest in the SCPZ in order to create jobs, stressing needs to support private agro-allied firms through incentives and infrastructure.

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?AfDB $800 million support for Agric underway – Adesina

FG needs to link fiscal, monetary policies – Adesina

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The Federal Government needs to coordinate its fiscal and monetary policies more closely, the President, African Development Bank, Mr. Akinwumi Adesina, has said.

Adesina, who spoke during a panel discussion at the Financial Times Africa Summit in London on Monday, said the move was necessary to improve the economic fortunes of the country.

“I think the naira is devalued, but…monetary policy and fiscal policy need synchronisation; that is very important,” Adesina said.

“There is a lot of pressure on the naira,” he added.

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, brought the need for coordination between fiscal and monetary policies to the front burner about two weeks ago when the Central Bank of Nigeria rejected calls for rate cuts.

Adeosun had urged the CBN’s Monetary Policy Committee to reduce the lending rate in order to reduce the Federal Government’s domestic borrowing costs.

Ahead of the MPC meeting, economic and financial experts had predicted that the committee would reduce the benchmark interest rate to complement the N350bn stimulus introduced into the economy by the fiscal authority the previous week.

Experts said unless the nation’s fiscal and monetary policies aligned, the process of bringing the economy out of recession might not be enhanced.

Highlighting this, the Executive Director, FCMB Capital Markets Limited, Mr. Tolu Osinibi, said, “So far, there seems to be a silo approach to the way government is doing things.

“There isn’t joint thinking, so the question you are asking is where the alignment is? There are various issues that the government has to grapple with, but various ministries seem to be working in isolation. It so far hasn’t appeared that there is tight coordination between the CBN and the ministry of finance.”

He added, “The coordination should be taking place at the level of the economic management team, which is headed by the Vice-President. I haven’t heard much about the policy positions and how they all link together.”

Buhari, Dangote, Adesina Make Africa’s 100 Most Influential Africans

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President Muhammadu Buhari, business mogul, Aliko Dangote, blogger Linda Ikeji and 17 other Nigerians have been named amongst the 100 most influential Africans of 2015.

The list complied by New African Magazine was dominated by Nigeria and South Africa, with 20 and 16 personalities respectively.

Kenya, Uganda and Cameroon also feature strongly with eight, six and six entries each respectively. Of the top 100 personalities, 65 are men and 32 are women, with the other three being groups of people. South Africa’s students, for example, were recognised this year for their role in South Africa’s #FeesMustFall and #Rhodesmustfall campaigns.

The list presents the continent’s definitive power list and profiles the continent’s top game changers in eight different fields: 22 from politics ; four from public office; 21 from arts and culture; 21 from business; 11 from civil society; nine from technology; seven from media, and five from sports.

Credit: Leadership

Food Security: No One Eats Oil Or Gas- Adesina

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The president of African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr Akinwumi Adesina, has emphasised the importance of agriculture and food security to the growth and development of Africa.

Speaking at a high level conference on agricultural transformation themed ‘Feeding Africa,’ Adesina said nothing is more important than food, noting that while Africa had risen on the back of new discoveries of oil and gas fields, in reality, no one eats oil or gas.

He stated, “People eat food. Access to food in quantity and quality is a fundamental human right. Just few weeks ago at the United Nations General Assembly, the world took a bold decision to approve the Sustainable Development Goals. In my meeting with the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, he told me: ‘The SDGs must succeed in Africa. If they do not succeed there, they cannot be said to have succeeded’.

“Africa is clearly the continent on the rise. Six of the 10 fastest-growing economies in the world are in Africa. Real income has risen by 30 per cent in the last 10 years. Foreign Direct Investment has risen to $64 billion, while remittances have reached $56 billion, exceeding total official development assistance.”

Credit: Leadership

Anti-Graft War: Adesina, Metuh Intensify Verbal Battle

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National Publicity Secretary of the main opposition party, Olisa Metuh yesterday sustained his verbal spat with presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, when he accused him of being ignorant of politics and governance. Adesina  quickly replied Metuh that he’s a broken record, which he (Adesina) has thrown away.

Metuh looked for trouble, in a statement by his special assistant, Richard Ihediwa, where he accused Adesina of ignoring  the party’s observation that no former APC  governor has been subjected to interrogation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) under the present administration.

In his reaction, Adesina said:  “Metuh is sounding like a broken record. It’s the same thing that he says all the time.

“But let me assure Nigerians that the President has always maintained that even when it affects APC members, the person concerned must go and defend himself.

“I think what is of interest to Nigerians is ‘did these people commit the crime?’ not whether it is one-sided or not.”

“It is unfortunate that in trying to wear his master the garb of a  democrat, Mr. Adesina has instead muddled up and bungled his assignment  with his arrogant posturing on important national issues. Whereas this media aide may have done well in the confines of his newsroom as a media professional, he has so far succeeded in making a mockery of the office
of a spokesperson of the President of a country like Nigeria.

“Our final take therefore is that the Presidency must note that Nigerians are still waiting for a proper response on the issues raised instead of invectives from an aide who apparently talks before he thinks.”

Read More: sunnewsonline

Adesina Reveals When Ministerial List Will Be Announced

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The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari, Mr Femi Adesina, on Sunday said the President may release his ministerial list before the month runs out; that is not later than Wednesday.

Mr Adesina, who spoke with Channels Television on Sunday, also said that President Buhari will meet with the Presidents of US, China, Senegal and the British Prime Minister among others on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

“Today (Sunday), the President will have high level meeting with global leaders and there will be bilateral meeting with the President of China, United Kingdom, Republic of Korea, Senegal and Prime Minister of Sweden.

“President Buhari will also attend a meeting on climate change which will be hosted by the UN Secretary General, Ban-ki Moon.

“Later in the evening, the ‘Champions of the Earth 2015 Awards’ will also hold which is to honour exemplary actions and leadership in the area of sustainable development in climate change.

” Something that has been noticed through the speeches of President Buhari is the zeal to build international coalition and partnerships for sustainable development.

” The President will address the General Assembly on Monday and most likely speak on the challenges of insurgency in the West African region”, he said.

Read More: channelstv

How Adesina Won AfDB Presidency

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One question on the lips of many followers of the African Development Bank (AfDB) before its just concluded 50th Annual Meetings in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire last week was who will come top in the development bank’s Presidential elections. The question became imperative because of the gripping nature of the race and the lobbying that followed the high level power play against the credentials of the eight candidates that vied for the position.

Apart from Nigeria’s candidate, Dr. Adesina Akinwumi, other candidates in the election were: Sufian Ahmed (Ethiopia); Jaloul Ayed (Tunisia); Kordjé Bedoumra (Chad);Cristina Duarte (Cabe Verde); Samura M W Kamara (Sierra Leone);Thomas Z Sakala (Zimbabwe) and Birama Boubacar Sidibé (Mali).

They all paraded credentials that can make them take over the leadership of the development bank from the outgoing President Donald Kaberuka, who led the AfDB for ten years.

A well placed source disclosed that there were behind the scene moves by the various governments of the candidates for their nationals to win the elections. So, it was not surprising that there were alleged gang up by some regional blocks against the candidacy of Nigeria, just as they said there was an unwritten agreement that Nigeria and South Africa should not lead the bank as the continent’s economic power.

Read More: vanguardngr

AfDB presidency: President Buhari’s Phone Calls To Global Leaders Shaped My Election, Says Adesina

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THE newly elected President of the Africa Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, yesterday spoke of President Muhammadu Buhari’s role in his election.

Adesina said Buhari made vital phone calls to global leaders in respect of the position that resulted in his emergence as the AfDB President, noting that the outcome of the race would have been different were it not for him.

The ex-minister of Agriculture and Rural Development under former President Goodluck Jonathan administration spoke at the Oke-Mosan Governor’s Office, Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, when he visited Governor Ibikunle Amosun.

He added that other notable Nigerians, including former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Jonathan, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar and others stood behind him.

Adesina noted that the dream and vision of African countries are one and pledged to use his office as president of the continental bank “to develop Africa, fight poverty, develop infrastructure and revive rural economies”.

He said: “I want to use this opportunity to congratulate President Buhari on his election and his inauguration. I want to thank him tremendously for the support that he gave me on the run for the presidency of the African Development Bank.

“Without that support and without him personally engaged in making calls to critical global leaders in the last days of the election, I don’t think we might have seen the result we saw today.

“I want to really thank the President tremendously for his support and for his commitment and to helping make sure we got that victory.

“Obviously, I couldn’t have also been here, except the former President, Goodluck Jonathan, nominated me. I feel tremendously humbled with that nomination and supported me tremendously by putting a lot of weight behind me.

“I want to thank particularly, former Vice President Namadi Sambo who also went with me to different parts of Africa in mobilising support. Also former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who also was in the frontline of actually pushing and helping us.

“So tremendous amount of goodwill that we had. The National Assembly was great, the press was generous, and all Nigerians, it is not about me, it is about our country and we are a great country.

He added: “I want to assure you that I as the president of the bank, by the grace of God, poverty would not be the comparative advantage of Africa and we would work very hard to develop programmes that would end poverty on this continent, that would lead people out of it and create opportunities for shared prosperity all across our continent.

“Obviously, I think critical issues of infrastructure would be important, energy for all would be important, electricity would be important, very critical to build private sector and to create wealth all across our continent.

“We want to ensure that we are able to create jobs for hundreds of millions of our people, instead of people going across this Sahara Desert or Mediterranean to go to Europe, we want to create job on this continent of Africa and we can do that.

“Also, I believe we must revive our rural economies and lift hundreds of our rural people that depend on agriculture out of poverty. So, getting agriculture to work as a business is going to be a big one that we are going to do for inclusive growth and also into regional integration.”

Dr. Adesina said his dream and vision for Africa is one, adding: “An Africa that is growing well, has a lot of shared prosperity and Africa where you have a lot of peace, stability and security, and one which is regionally integrated within ourselves, but also globally competitive in what we do.”

AfDB: Amosun Congratulates Adesina

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Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun state, Southwest, Nigeria has congratulated former Minister of Agriculture, Akinwunmi Adesina on his election as the 8th President of the African Development Bank (AfDB).

The governor, who was sworn in on Friday as the governor of Ogun for the second term, described the success as not only a personal success to Adesina, but also to Nigeria as a country.

He also stated that the emergence of Adesina as the head of the bank is another of many feats of indigenes of Ogun state, where he hails from.

The governor expressed confidence in the new President of the AfDB, as a seasoned agricultural economist, to bring his wealth of experience to bear in his new position by using agriculture as a pivot to provide food security and create jobs for the army of unemployed youths on the continent.

“The appointment is well deserved, having served meritoriously in his capacity as Minister of Agriculture in Nigeria. He has made us proud in Ogun state as we have scored yet another first, being the first Nigerian to be so appointed.

“I have no doubt in my mind that he would bring his experience to bear in his new assignment. I wished him success in his new endeavor,” Amosun said.

Sambo In Algeria, Drums Support For Adesina’s AFDB Presidency

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Vice-President Namadi Sambo on Sunday in Algiers, met with the Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal where they discussed bilateral issues relating to the development and co-operation of their two countries in various fields.

The information was contained in a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday by the vice-president’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Umar Sani.

It stated that the vice-president, who arrived Algiers on Saturday, was received by the Foreign Affairs Minister of Algeria Ramtare Lamamra at the Houari Bounediene International Airport Algiers.

According to the statement, Sambo used the occasion to solicit for the support of Algeria towards the candidature of Dr. Akinwumi Adeshina for the Presidency of the African Development Bank (AfDB).

The statement maintained that Sambo, who was in Algiers as a special envoy of President Goodluck Jonathan, presented a letter from President Jonathan to Abdelazeez Bouteflika the President of Algeria

The meeting, according to the statement, had in attendance the Foreign Affairs Minister of Nigeria, Amb. Aminu Wali, the Minister of Agriculture Dr. Akinwumi Adeshina and the Nigeria’s Ambassador to Algeria, HarunaGinsau.

Also the Algerian Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Agriculture and Rural Development RamtaneLamama and Abdelouahab Nouri respectively, were part of the exchange of views on a number of regional and international issues of mutual interest to both countries.

“Highlights of the event was a presentation to the Prime Minister by Dr. Akinwumi Adeshina in flawless and impeccable French outlining his plans for the bank if elected as its President,” it further stated.