Akinwumi Adesina, the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), has emphasized that corruption is not an issue exclusive to Africa but rather a global crisis, extending even into Europe. He made these remarks during a recent interview with the UK Guardian.
Adesina pointed out that while corruption is prevalent in Europe’s financial and economic sectors, there are instances where countries in Africa, like Eritrea in East Africa, have achieved remarkably low levels of corruption, citing Eritrea’s zero percent corruption rate.
He stressed that it’s crucial for the African continent to continuously enhance accountability in the utilization of public resources. Adesina also drew a contrast between the global financial crisis of 2008, which was rooted in greed, corruption, and fraud, and the African continent, which was not the epicenter of that crisis.
He stated, “You have people cooking the books in the financial industry in Europe, not Africa. Corruption is not an African issue. The issue is not to say that there’s none. What you have to do is to continue to improve transparency and accountability in the use of public resources.”
Adesina underscored the importance of proper governance, responsible investment, and creating the right incentives for African nations to harness the value of their raw materials, including oil, gas, minerals, metals, and food. He emphasized that Africa must move up the global value chain and make a shift from being at the bottom to a more prominent position.
Adesina also urged governments to be accountable in their resource acquisition and utilization, emphasizing that public resources should not end up in private pockets. He held multinational companies accountable for enabling illegal capital flows in Africa and called for increased scrutiny in that regard.
In summary, Adesina’s perspective challenges the perception of corruption as solely an African problem and highlights the need for global efforts to combat this issue while stressing the importance of good governance and value
