NIGERIA – The Federal Government of Nigeria has almost doubled its stake at the African Development Bank (AfDB) at a time when the bank is heading into an election to elect its next president.

According to a report by Nairametrics Nigeria increased its stake at the African Development Bank to 16% by paying subscriptions it had pledged as part of a general capital before the January 2021 deadline.

The development according to a report by Bloomberg makes Nigeria the biggest rights holder with a wider margin, followed by non-regional members Germany with 7.4% and the United States 5.5%.

With Nigeria having a greater voting rights at the Bank, Dr. Akinumwi Adesina bid for another term of 5 years as the President of AfDB appears to be guaranteed.

Adesina is the sole candidate for this election as against the previous election in 2015, where he contested against the Chadian Finance Minister Kordje Bedoumra and Cape Verde’s Agricultural Minister Cristina Duarte.

Adesina, who is from Nigeria is seeking to be re-elected as the head of AfDB after being cleared of all allegations of abuse of office and corruption by the independent panel that was set up by the lender.

A statement from the African Development Bank indicated that the Annual General Meeting will take place virtually between August 25 and 27 after the initial postponement in May due to the coronavirus pandemic.

According to a statement from the bank, ‘’The format of the meetings has been adapted to consider the physical constraints imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Earlier, an AfDB backed probe independent review panel had cleared Adesina of all the allegations against him by a group of anonymous whistleblowers.

This followed the request by the US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin with the support of some non-regional members for an independent inquiry into those allegations after the ethics committee of the board had initially cleared him of any wrongdoing.

The AfDB is Africa’s largest multilateral bank with 54 African countries and 27 countries in the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Asia as shareholders.

Liked this article? Subscribe to DealStreet Africa News, our regular email newsletter with the latest news, deals and insights from Africa’s business, economy and more. SUBSCRIBE HERE