Introduction
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to welcome you to the unveiling of the recipient of this year’s Obafemi Awolowo Prize for Leadership. It will be recalled that the recipient of the maiden award of the Prize was announced on 19 December, 2012 while the ceremony for the presentation of the award was held on 6 March, 2013. In all, three distinguished personalities have so far been conferred with the Obafemi Awolowo Prize for Leadership. We are here today to announce the fourth recipient of the Prize.
Background
The Obafemi Awolowo Prize for Leadership is an initiative of the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation, which was set up in April 1992 to serve as the custodian of Chief Awolowo’s intellectual and leadership legacy. It was established as an independent, non-profit, non-partisan organisation dedicated to immortalising the democratic and development-oriented ideals of Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
The Foundation has sought, over the years, to pursue its mission through various activities which include the periodic hosting of Dialogues designed to examine critical issues of national concern with a view to proposing viable alternative strategies for their solution.
The institution of the Prize is a direct outcome of the Special Dialogue held in July 2011 and themed, ‘Transformational Leadership and Good Governance: Lessons from the Awolowo Example’. The dialogue highlighted the fact that one of the greatest challenges facing African countries is the dearth of good leadership. It therefore recommended that the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation should institute an Obafemi Awolowo Prize for Leadership to encourage, recognize, reward and celebrate excellence in leadership.
It is generally well known that Chief Obafemi Awolowo was one of Nigeria’s and indeed Africa’s foremost leaders. A Pan-African nationalist of global repute, he was the First Premier of Nigeria’s Western region and, later, Leader of Opposition in the Federal Parliament. He was also, inter alia, Nigeria’s Federal Commissioner (now known as Minister) of Finance and Vice Chairman, Federal Executive Council and played crucial roles in Nigeria’s constitutional and political development during the country’s colonial and postcolonial history.
Chief Awolowo was a highly revered Nigerian federalist, whose leadership bent was generally well acknowledged to be people-centred, visionary, integrity-laden and underlined by personal discipline. His grassroots-friendly policies and transformational approach to leadership are still evident in the various legacies of the late sage.
The Prize
The Obafemi Awolowo Prize for Leadership is a prestigious, biennial, international prize structured to follow a rigorous process of nomination and subsequent screening by a Selection Committee consisting of some of the most outstanding Nigerians. The prize not only confers considerable honour and recognition on the recipient, but also serves as a strong incentive to persons to pursue excellence in leadership and good governance.
The 2023 Award
In line with the relevant guidelines for the selection of candidates for the award, the call for nomination for this year’s edition of the Obafemi Awolowo Prize for Leadership was published for several months in 2023. At the close of nomination, many nominations were received. There is no doubt that many of these nominees are eminent persons who have made tremendous contributions in various spheres of life. We thank all those who sent in nominations for consideration.
The Recipient
After a careful, detailed and rigorous screening process, the Selection Committee was unanimous in deciding on the recipient of this year’s Prize. I have great pleasure to inform you that the considered view of the Selection Committee is that of all the nominees presented before it, the person adjudged to possess the attributes for the award to the highest degree and therefore is the recipient of the 2023 Obafemi Awolowo Prize for Leadership is Dr. Akinwumi Ayodeji Adesina, CON, President of the African Development Bank.
Dr. Adesina graduated from the University of Ife, Nigeria (now Obafemi Awolowo University) in 1981 with a First-Class Honours in Agricultural Economics, the first student to attain that feat in the field since the establishment of the university. He obtained his Master’s and PhD degrees in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University, United States of America. He has had over three decades of experience working in various leadership positions across the world.
Dr. Adesina, a former Nigerian Minister of Agriculture in the administration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, is currently serving a second term as President of African Development Bank. Besides being a Pan Africanist with enthusiastic commitment to the positive transformation of the continent, he has demonstrated core leadership qualities that have been associated with Chief Obafemi Awolowo, and which this Prize is meant to encourage and reward. Dr. Adesina is a person whose outstanding leadership has occasioned public policies that have positively transformed millions of lives.
As Minister of Agriculture in Nigeria, Dr. Adesina introduced innovative reforms such as the fertilizer sector reforms, which virtually eliminated corruption in the sector and ensured that farmers actually benefitted from government’s subsidized fertilizers. He developed an electronic-wallet(link is external) system that allowed farmers to receive electronic vouchers for seeds and fertilizers directly on their mobile phones, thereby cutting off the middlemen in the system. Not less than 15 million farmers benefitted from this scheme within four years.
Since assuming office as President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Adesina has worked relentlessly to contribute to the positive transformation of the continent. He has brought leadership to bear in addressing some of the challenges confronting the continent including leading and supporting innovative efforts to fight hunger and poverty.
At the AfDB, Dr. Adesina introduced what he termed the “High 5s” namely, to light up and power Africa; Feed Africa; Industrialise Africa; Integrate Africa; and improve the quality of life of the people of Africa. The impactful and successful nature of this programme has been widely acknowledged.
In 2019, under the leadership of Dr. Adesina, the shareholders of the African Development Bank increased the capital base of the Bank from $US93 billion to US$208 billion, an increase of over 123 percent, the highest capital increase of the Bank since its establishment in 1964
Dr. Adesina is a kind hearted and generous person who believes in supporting the less privileged and younger persons. He demonstrated this when, at the event where he was given the World Food Prize, he announced that he would devote the $US 250,000 cash tied to the prize to supporting young people by establishing the World Hunger Fighters Foundation(link is external) to support young people in the fight against global hunger. Some young people have so far benefitted from this gesture.
A comprehensive citation of Dr. Adesina will be given at the award ceremony scheduled for 6 March, 2024, which is Chief Awolowo’s birth anniversary. But let me conclude by making reference to pertinent comments about Dr. Adesina by two eminent global personalities. As a former President of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (in whose cabinet Dr. Adesina served as Minister of Agriculture) aptly noted, “Dr. Adesina epitomises and combines qualities of extraordinary leadership that are often rare to find: great visionary, incredible courage, ability to take on huge and difficult challenges, extraordinary dedication and commitment, selflessness, people-centeredness, and fervour to deliver transformative programs and policies that transform the lives of millions of people.” Similarly, a former Secretary General of the United Nations who is a non-African rightly averred that “Dr. Adesina is forged in the same mould as Chief Obafemi Awolowo – a shining example of leadership.”
Thank you very much for your attention and support.
Source: www.afdb.org
