Trending on the news these past few days is the issue of a probe launched by the U.S government against the President of the African Development Bank, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, on allegations of corruption and abuse of power. Dr. Akinwumi has made efforts to clear his name and most people have taken his side in this fight. However, we are not here to talk about the details of this probe, we are looking at something more…worrisome.
The African Development Bank was established to help combat poverty among African states. Naturally, members of the bank happen to be African states only, however, this changed in 1982 when it was approved that non-African states can join. This is the basis of our discussion tonight. How the U.S, a non-African state, which is also a member, gets to probe the management of a bank that is supposed to be ‘sovereign’ and distinct from foreign interference.
Late President of Nigeria, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, in his book, titled Shehu Shagari: Beckoned To Serve explained the situation that led to the influx of foreign states into the membership of this regional financial institution. According to him, he stated that he was the then Nigeria’s Minister of Finance under General Gowon’s administration where he initiated the Nigerian Trust Fund (NTF) which was charged with the goal of aiding African states with soft loans.
However, he was quite astonished when in 1981, members of the African Development Bank (AfDB) tried to seek approval for non-African states to be allowed to be members. Being an adherent nationalist, Alhaji Shehu Shagari who was already President of Nigeria by then used his veto power to veto the decision to allow non-African states in. However, this did not stop the pressure from other African States (who had been clearly lobbied) to try and convince Shagari to accept these non-African states into the membership of the bank. Even within the ranks of his government, including members of the parliament who had also been lobbied, put enormous pressure on Shagari.
Finally, he gave in to the pressure. And 38 years down the line, the U.S is the second-highest voting power in the bank; there are 27 non-African members like China, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Japan, and so on; and, we have a probe against the President of the financial institution that was established to fight the plight of Africans, by a non-African member-state.
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It is clear that we are the cause of this shame and ridicule that we have found ourselves. We spend all the time talking about imperialism and neo-colonialism when we walk into it ourselves. Believe me, this is just the beginning. The management of the bank could be replaced with the staff of non-African states; funds that should be used to battle poverty in Africa would end up being used to fight “war of terror” somewhere in the Middle East, or whatever it is that the highest-voting power state (which would be a non-African state) would deem it to be used for, which clearly not benefit Africans.
When that time comes, let us not look to the western countries and yell curses on them for taking our funds; let us not cry wolf and expect the world to understand our plight; let us not look up to God to save us and extinguish all non-African member-states. Nah. When that time comes, let us take a seat, relax, and remember how we let the oppressors in…
