AfDB boss, Adesina, gets American university’s highest honour

The 2017 World Food Prize Laureate and President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina, has received the Order of the Griffin award, one of Purdue University’s highest honours in Lafayette, Indianapolis, United States of America (USA).

President of the University, Mitchell Daniels, who presented the award to Adesina during a Presidential lecture series at the university said the award is given to individuals whose commitment and service to the university go well beyond their call of duty and whose strength and vision have greatly benefitted the institution and the world.

A statement made available to journalists in Abuja said Adesina, who was the special guest at the lecture series, earned his Master’s and doctoral degrees in Agricultural Economics from Purdue.

Addressing a large audience, Daniels said: “We have a lot of recognitions here at Purdue and lots of ways to honour people who do extraordinary things.

“The single highest of these, which has been given fewer than 50 times in history, is the Griffin Award and those of us who huddled on this subject took no time at all to decide that if anyone ever merited the Griffin Award from Purdue University, it’s you, Adesina. Here it is, and thank you.”

Responding, Adesina stressed the need to enshrine e-governance in Africa, describing e-governance as essential for citizens’ participation and transparency. He also spoke on the need for strong institutions in Africa.

“It is important to build very strong institutions, and also important to have strong economic management to make sure that the countries can have robust growth. Without growth you can’t distribute anything,” he said.

He pointed out that peace was critical to achieving the green revolution in Africa, while highlighting what the African Development Bank was doing to help African countries to build more resilient economies.

“I think it is a very important area that we need to deal with. At the end of the day, when you have insecurity, it is the women and children who suffer the most. Africa has a rising refugee population as a result of insecurity in most of our countries,” he added.