Eight candidates join race to succeed AfDB president Adesina in 2025

With the two-term tenure of African Development Bank (AfDB) president Akinwumi Adesina coming to an end by May 2025, a total of eight candidates, including from South Africa, Algeria, Senegal, Zambia, and Mauritania, are in race to succeed him.
The race is beginning to heat up with candidates across Africa declaring their intention to replace Adesina and more expected to declare interest in the coming months. The Nigerian economist became president of the bank in 2015 and initially served his five-year tenure before getting re-elected to serve another five-year tenure. The AfDB president is elected by the board of governors for a renewable five-year term and oversees the bank’s daily operations, supported by a chief economist and five vice presidents. The AfDB voting interests are influenced by powerful regional blocs, including ECOWAS, SADC and COMESA, especially when they have a candidate in the running.
Several candidates are already on maneuvers in an election which could have significant ramifications for the direction of travel at the AfDB. Joining the race are, for example, Abbas Mahamat Tolli from Chad, former governor of the Bank of Central African States, the dual French-Algerian citizen Rabah Arezki, a former chief economist of the AfDB, Senegal’s Hassatou Diop N’Sele, the AfDB’s current vice-president of finance, and Albert G. Zeufack, the World Bank country director for Angola, Burundi, the DRC and Sao Tome and Principe. “While the current AfDB president is currently busy undertaking a valedictory global tour, highlighting his successes and outlining his vision for Africa, management reform is high on the agenda – and as we get closer to September the debate about reforming the institution will heat up,” said Alex Vines from the London-based Chatham House think-tank.