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‘Corruption is Not An African Issue’, AfDB President, Adesina Speaks to The Guardian

Africa holds the future workforce for the ageing economies of the west, according to one of the continent’s leading financial figures, who also said it was time to ditch the myths around corruption and risk.
In an exclusive interview before this weekend’s World Bank meetings in Morocco, Akinwumi Adesina said there was a resurgence of belief in Africa’s economic prospects and attacked negative stereotyping, adding that there was “every reason to be optimistic”.
Now midway through his second five-year term as president of the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Nigerian former agriculture minister said the continent’s demographic advantage, expanding middle class, and vast investment opportunities meant a shift was under way.
“And not before time – we’re tired of being at the bottom of the value chain,” Adesina said. “The fastest way to poverty is through exporting raw materials, but the highway to wealth is through global value chains by adding value to everything you have, from oil to gas to minerals to metals and food. We must add value.
Established in 1964, the AfDB is Africa’s only AAA-rated financial institution, focused on what Adesina said were his “high fives”: enabling universal access to electricity, improving quality of life, industrialising, food self-sufficiency, and integrating the continent’s 54 countries to create larger and more efficient markets.
“I don’t think that you can have development with pride unless you can feed yourself,” he said.
He said the record-breaking amounts attracted from international investors in the past few years pointed to a renewed trust in the bank’s ability to fast-track development across Africa, particularly in the 37 low-income countries.
“The 81 shareholders of the bank provided us with an increase in the bank’s capital at the end of 2019, from $93bn to $208bn [£76bn to £171bn] – the highest capital increase in the bank’s history. That was timely because little could we have imagined that we were going to move into the world of Covid.
“So that increase allowed us very quickly to do an emergency support facility of $10bn in Covid crisis response for Africa and to immediately respond when the global food crisis was coming from the Russia’s war in Ukraine. We launched a $1.5bn emergency food-production facility to mitigate that global geopolitical crisis leading to a food crisis in Africa.”
But he does want the international financial systems to be structured fairer, so that African nations have as equal access as the developed nations to reserves and liquidity. Adesina will be taking his call for equity to this weekend’s World Bank summit.
“What is very important for us is the issue of the special drawing rights. Africa needs to have a lot more resources for financing climate, but what is actually out there it’s not enough. We have on the table right now the special drawing rights of the IMF. But when they were issued, US$650 billion were issued, Africa got US$33 billion. It’s 4.5%, it’s not good. You have small countries in Europe that got more and that is not fair and not inclusive.” With 190 member states in the IMF, Africa’s 54 countries should have been closer to receiving 25% of the special drawing rights.
“African heads of state are asking for US$100 billion to be re channelled from the countries that got it and don’t use it, or need it,” Adesina said, and he believes this could be key to real progress.
“We might think of maybe just adjusting it a little bit. And calling it supporting development revitalisation. That’s also SDRs.”
Corruption, he said, is actually less in Africa than other parts of the world. “The global financial crisis that brought the world down in 2008 – that was not in Africa,” he said. “We have no Wall Street.
“That collapse came from greed, from corruption, from fraud.
“You have people cooking the books that are in the financial industry in Europe, not in Africa. Corruption is not an African issue.
“The issue is, that’s not to say that there’s none. What you have to do is to continue to improve transparency, accountability and the use of public resources.
“I just came back from Eritrea. I hear a lot of things about Eritrea but my first time there and I was talking to UN Development Programme staff. You know what they told me? That, in Eritrea, corruption is 0%. Why do we not talk about that? That’s the kind of thing that we want to do. For us as a development bank, we take good governance very, very seriously.
“As far as I am concerned, people’s resources do not belong in other people’s pockets. Governments must be accountable to their people. There has to be transparency in how the resources are acquired and used. That’s why we have a governance programme. When you get money from us, we also support you technically. You are accounting for those resources.
“I don’t want to minimise that Africa has a significant amount of illicit capital flows; it does – anything between $80bn and $100bn a year. But guess what? Those that are doing that are the multinational companies. And so what we have got to do is bring a searchlight to that.”
However, the biggest challenge lay in the climate crisis, he said. “Africa today is losing $7bn to $15bn a year from climate change. And that’s going to rise to $50bn a year by 2030. Yet it receives only 3% of the global climate finance.”
The African climate summit in Nairobi last month was a “great success”, he said.
“For the first time, African countries got together to say we’re not going to talk about climate issues individually; we’re putting forward African issues collectively. That itself was a success.
“I made a case at the summit that Africa’s wealth should be revalued based on the value of its natural capital; if you did that, these countries that are currently rich in natural capital, but are cash poor, will become richer. Many people think the largest carbon lung in the world is the Amazon. But it is the Congo basin forest. Now, if Africa is providing this global good, why is it not accounted for in its GDP?
“I’m an eternal optimist – they call me Africa’s optimist-in-chief – because look at the numbers: Africa’s population is going to be 1.72 billion by 2030. Seven years from now. That’s larger than China, larger than India. 477 million of those are young people, between 15 and 35. That’s a skilled workforce; that would be the labour, a workforce for the world.
“I can go into any country you have in Europe, or in Japan, and it’s a rapidly ageing workforce and they are looking for people. A skilled African population would be able to supply that. And when they do that, guess what: they put a lot of remittances back into the continent. So Africa is part of the solution of the lack of skills in the global labour market.”
He said renewable energy and agriculture were also growth opportunities. “Africa has 60% of the world’s solar power. That is an $100bn investment opportunity for Africa to become able to light up itself, but also to harness a renewable energy and reduce global emissions.
“Take food: the ability to feed the world by 2050 will not depend on the US or China, Japan or Europe, because 65% of the arable land left uncultivated in the world is in Africa. So what Africa then does with agriculture and how we all invest in agriculture will determine the future of food in the world.
“Also, take a look at other opportunities that Africa has: mobile money services, financial services – there’s tremendous growth. If you look at the number of people using mobile phones in Africa: 650 million. That is larger than the US and Europe together, and when you look at the financial services – whether mobile phone or e-health, insurance, digital payments – a revolution has happened in Africa.
“You have $701bn just from digital payments in the world – 70% of digital payments in the world happening in Africa.
“I go out and I see young people in the fintech industry that are leading today globally. So, my optimism, it’s realistic.
“Take a look at electric vehicles. Guess what: the metals for all of that are in Africa. Africa has 80% of the world supply of platinum, 50% of copper, 40% of manganese. Huge amount of lithium all about.
“We want to have investors globally investing. We have to make sure the governance environment is right, that incentives are right.
“Don’t just believe what I say, believe what the data says. Bloomberg did an analysis of the default rates on infrastructure globally over the past 14 years, around the world. Guess what they found: Africa’s default rate is the lowest in the world – 2.1%. Eastern Europe: well over 10%. Asia: well over 8%.
“We’re doing everything we can to make sure investments can land in Africa, like a plane on a smooth landing strip.”
Culled from The Guardian – Story by Kenneth Mohammed
Featured
70th Birthday: Davido Gifts Timi of Ede Brand New Luxurious GAC Car

Renowned musician and pop star, David Adeleke, also known as Davido, has presented a brand-new GAC GS8 4WD car to HRM Oba Munirudeen Adesola Lawal, the Timi of Ede, in celebration of his 70th birthday.
The luxurious vehicle was presented at an eleborate ceremony by the Chief of Staff, Alhaji Kazeem Akinleye, on behalf of Davido.
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Meet Nigeria Customs National Public Relations Officer, ACC Abdullahi Maiwada

They come as ready as they are prepared. They are the efficiency of paramilitary and security endeavours. They secure border integrity. They are the Nigeria Customs Service, and one man is at the forefront of projecting their hard earned glorious image. He is Assistant Comptroller of Police Abdullahi Aliyu Maiwada.
In December 2024, Maiwada, who is the National Spokesman of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) was elevated to office Assistant Comptroller of Customs. His promotion was a consequence of efficiency, doggedness, hard work and ability to exhibit all the qualities of one with an eye to details.
Maiwada was among many officers who benefitted from the recent promotion by the Customs board.
His trajectory in the Service and beyond, is captured as follows:
A prolific image manager, AC Maiwada was born on January 12, 1987 in Katsina State.
He attended his primary and secondary school education in Bayero University Kano.
He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Education/Geography and a Master’s Degree in Environmental Management from Bayero University Kano.
He also holds a Bachelor’s Degree and Master’s Degree in mass communication from Crescent University Abeokuta. He is currently a Doctorate Researcher specialising in Internal Communication at the University of Abuja.
AC Maiwada was enlisted into the Nigeria Customs Service as Cadet ASC II in 2011. He had a long stint as the Zonal Public Relations Officer Zone ‘B’ Headquarters, Public Relations Officer Ogun Command (now Ogun I & II Area Commands).
AC Maiwada was deployed to Headquarters in 2020 as the pioneer Liaison Officer of Nigeria Customs Broadcasting Network and later deputised the immediate past National Public Relations Officer from January 2022 to February 2023. He was appointed substantive spokesperson of NCS in April 2023, a position he holds to date.
To fully embrace the service of Public Relations and its dynamics, AC Abdullahi Maiwada is a Member of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) and a member of the African Public Relations Association (APRA).
He also holds full membership with the Association of Communication Scholars and Professionals of Nigeria (ACSPN), the African Council for Communication Education (ACCE), and the Association of Media and Communication Researchers of Nigeria (AMCRON).
He has attended numerous courses relating to Customs Operations, Trade Facilitation, Public Relations, Strategic Communication, and Leadership.
As a consummate and seasoned Officer, he is a recipient of the 2020 World Customs Organisation (WCO) meritorious award. He recently bagged the Best Spokesperson of the Year award organised by Image Merchant Limited.
Under his watch, the Public Relations Unit recently received the WCO Meritorious Award during the 2024 International Customs Day Celebration (ICD). He also received the 2024 Best Spokesperson Award from the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations.
He has several published conceptual and empirical papers relating to Public Relations in Customs and other areas in the field of communication.
He is happily married with three kids.
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Glo Partners Samsung to Offer Customers the Exclusive Galaxy S-25

Digital solutions company, Globacom, has teamed up with Samsung, world’s leading manufacturer of electronic devices, to bring a new offer to Glo subscribers. This tantalising deal allows Glo customers to pre-order the highly sought-after Samsung Galaxy S-25 smartphone and enjoy unique benefits.
Samsung Electronics unveiled its newest flagship smartphones: the Galaxy S25 series which comes with cutting-edge advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and was designed to elevate user experience and set new standards in the industry on January 22, 2025.
The pre-ordering exercise kicked off on January 22 and closes on February 18, 2025 at Gloworld shops across the country. It gives customers the opportunity to select from the Galaxy S25 lineup, including the S25 Ultra, the top-tier and most sophisticated model, as well as the S25+ and the standard S25. They, however, come with different processors and storage options.
Customers who pre-order the Galaxy S25 or S25+ will receive complimentary gifts, including a Buds FE, a suit cover, and Samsung Care, while those opting for the Galaxy S25 Ultra, will receive a free Buds 3, a standing grip case, and Samsung Care.
Globacom is also delighting customers who purchase any model from the Galaxy S25 series with 18GB bonus data for 6 months under smartphone festival data plans, while they can also secure their pre-order at any Gloworld shop with an advance payment of ₦500,000. Pre-ordered phones will be delivered to customers from February 19 onwards.
“We are thrilled to bring this offer to our subscribers, who will enjoy unparalleled benefits, including innovative packaging. This partnership with Samsung reinforces our commitment to providing value-added services that cater to the evolving needs of our customers”.
The company advises other phone lovers who are yet to pre-order the new device to visit any Gloworld outlet close to them and join the list of the new owners of the Samsung S-25 phone before the expiry date.
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