AFDB VP Step Down Sends Message To Adesina

The African Development Bank (AfDB)  has announced the resignation of its Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development, Dr. Jennifer Blanke, with effect from July 4, 2020.

This was confirmed by the AfDB through a tweet post on the bank’s official Twitter handle on Wednesday June 11, 2020.

Jennifer Blanke, who joined the bank in early 2017 and has overseen a number of the bank’s key programmes, pointed out that her decision to leave was purely for family reasons. She intends to rejoin her family in Switzerland after a very fulfilling time at the bank.

The statement from the bank says, “The African Development Bank has announced that Dr. Jennifer Blanke, Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development, will be leaving the bank effective July 4, 2020.”

Blanke said, “I thank President Akinwumi Adesina for his strong leadership, guidance and support which have undoubtedly motivated and helped my team and I to play a key role in the transformation of the bank. I feel privileged to have been given an opportunity to contribute to the bank’s agenda for accelerating Africa’s social and economic transformation.”

Going further, the outgoing Vice President said, “I am leaving purely for family reasons to rejoin my family in Switzerland after a very fulfilling time at the bank. I will miss the bank and the excellent team we have built. I will continue to strongly support the bank from wherever I am.”

Meanwhile, in his own message, the President of the Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, expressed his delight at working with Dr. Jennifer Blanke over the past three and a half years. He said that she had demonstrated genuine leadership skills and wished her all the best.

It can be recalled the AfDB has been bedevilled with a leadership crisis as the United States, the second-largest shareholder, had asked for an independent probe of the bank’s President, following series of allegations by a group of whistleblowers.

Adesina has however denied all allegations.