Akinwumi Adesina: Nigeria Tackles U.S

The Nigerian Government has tackled the demand of the United States following a request for an independent investigation into the activities of African Development Bank President, Akinwumi Adesina. Nigeria asked AfDB to ignore the demand as it's against the rules of the African lender.

The stance of Nigeria was made known in a letter Nigeria's Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed wrote to Chairman of the Board of Governors of the AfDB. 

AllNews had reported that the United States rejected the internal probe of Adesina, requesting an independent probe after questioning the process of AfDB's ethics committee which had carried out the investigation on allegations of misconduct by Adesina.

It was also reported that AfDB succumbed to the United States' demand. The decision by AfDB had been trailed by mixed reactions and nor well received in Nigeria, with Adesina countering the U.S and denying all allegations made by a whistleblower.

In the letter, Ahmed said AfDB's procedures and rules of the financial organisation doesn't accommodate such requests. While the U.S said it rejected the probe of AfDB's Ethics Committee, the Nigerian Government said it embraces the probe.

“The call for an ‘independent investigation’ of the President is outside of the laid down rules, procedures and governing system of the bank and its articles as it relates to the Code of Conduct on Ethics for the President." The Nigerian Finance Minister said in the letter.

She also stated that “As Board of Governors (made up of the finance ministers of member countries), we must uphold the rule of law and respect the governance systems of the bank. If there’s any governance issues that need improvement, these can be considered and amendments proposed for adoption in line with laid down procedures.

“The Nigerian Government welcomes the conclusion of the Ethics Committee and the decision of the Chair of the Board of Governors.

“The Ethics Committee, following three months of work to examine the whistleblowers’ allegations made against the President, dismissed each and every one of the allegations of the whistleblowers against the President as unsubstantiated and baseless," Ahmed said in the letter.