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The African Development Bank (AfDB) insists the bank is African and that Nigeria’s 10 per cent shareholding portfolio makes it the single largest shareholder.“Lots of people do not believe the Bank is African. The media should help us change this narrative”, Professor Vincent Nmehielle, its Secretary General, said at a press conference to announce the bank’s annual meetings slated for Busan, South Korea.
This would be held from May 21 – 25, and under the theme, “Africa’s industrialisation: strategies, policies, institutions and finance”. AfDB has 80-member countries - 54 regional members and 26 non-regional members, splitting on a 60-40 per cent respectively, and Prof Nmehielle said “all configurations must fall within the split”.
The other non-African shareholders include the United States (US), Japan, Germany and Canada with the US holding six per cent shares. The Secretary General said it had received several applications – expression of interest to join the bank, and that a definite pronouncement would be made on this at the Busan meeting.
AfDB has three distinct entities - the Bank, the African Development Fund and the Nigerian Trust Fund and these have their own separate board of governors and directors.
By Maxwell Awumah, GNA Correspondent, Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire
