No fewer than 200 leading African political, business, and diplomatic leaders gathered in Johannesburg for the 8th African Leadership Magazine Persons of the Year Award dinner.
They witnessed Dr.
Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank, being honored as
the African of the Year 2019.
Themed ‘Africa for Africans – Exploring
the Gains of a Connected Continent’, the evening brought together dignitaries
including South African Deputy President, David D Mabuza, South African Ministers
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Lindiwe Zulu, and Dr. Ken Giami, Publisher of
African Leadership Magazine.
The highlight of the event was the keynote
speech delivered by Dr. Adesina. His passion for the continent was palpable,
connecting with the attentive audience throughout his speech. Dr. Adesina
expressed his humility in being “recognised for my very modest achievements and
contributions to Africa. Humbled to be nominated by what I gather to
be 60% of the votes cast by some 1 million people, humbled to be at the
helm of an organisation that is making a tremendous difference across Africa –
the African Development Bank. An organisation that is daily making prosperity a
reality.”
He dedicated the award to his wife, Grace, the
Board, staff, and colleagues at the bank, his mother, and “to the young
mothers, struggling to bring up a child, to the farmer in search of a better
tomorrow, to the youth of Africa longing for a better future, and to Africa’s
journalists who risk their lives in helping to tell Africa’s true story.”
Adesina, the visionary behind the African
Development Bank’s High 5 strategy, explained that primary focus
of the African Development Bank is “to light up and power Africa, to feed
Africa, to industrialise Africa, to integrate Africa, and to improve the
quality of life of the people of Africa. Five simple, strategic, and highly
focused objectives.”
South African Deputy President, David Mabuza,
delivered the second keynote speech. Accepting the Award on behalf of South
Sudan’s President Salva Kiir Mayardit and his First Vice President, Dr Riek
Machar Teny, Mabuza said: “the struggles of our people and their development
aspirations remain fundamentally intertwined with those of fellow Africans
elsewhere on the Continent.”
He added: “These are the values that President
Oliver Tambo and President Nelson Mandela taught us. Our commitment to the
cause of a prosperous and better Africa is unwavering. It is in that spirit
that as a country, we have placed our resources both human and financial, to
the resolutions of conflicts.”
The African Leadership Magazine Persons of the
Year Awards is now the most popular vote-based third-party endorsement in
Africa.
Adesina was elected the 8th President of the
African Development Bank in 2015. He has been a leader in the African
agricultural innovation space for over 30 years. He has contributed to Africa’s
economic growth by helping to strengthen the continent’s food security and
promoting a workable agribusiness model.
Under his leadership, in the past four years,
the bank has helped 18 million people get electricity, 141 million people get
agricultural technologies, 13 million people get finance through private sector
investee companies, 101 million people get improved transport services, and 60
million people get better water and sanitation.
In his remarks, Adesina urged Africans to rise,
be bold and determined. “Africa does not need anyone to believe in her or
to affirm her place and position in history. Africa will and must develop with
pride. For right on the inside of us, as Africans, lies our greatest instrument
of successes: confidence!” Adesina said.
Adesina is in good
company joining some notable previous winners of the African of the Year Award:
Former Liberian President and Nobel Peace Prize
winner, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (2011)
Sudanese businessman, Mo Ibrahim (2012)
Former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar
(2013)
Former President of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete
(2014)
Former President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan
(2015)
Tanzanian businessman and philanthropist,Mo
Dewji (2016)
President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame (2017)
Prime Minister of Ethiopia and Nobel Peace Prize
winner, Abiy Ahmed (2018)