Mauritanian Sidi Oud Tah has succeeded Akinwunmi Adesina as the president of the African Development Bank (AfDB).
He defeated four other candidates, namely: Amadou Hott (Senegal), Samuel Maimbo (Zambia), Mahamat Abbas Tolli (Chad), and Bajabulile Swazi Tshabalala (South Africa), to emerge as the AfDB President-elect.
The Mauritanian was elected by the Bank’s Board of Governors, comprising Finance and Economy Ministers or Central Bank Governors of the Bank Group’s 81 regional and non-regional member countries polling at least 50.01% of the votes.
Sidi Oud Tah, who is the 9th president of the AfDB since its inception, would assume office on 1 September 2025, for a five-year term, following the end of the second mandate of the current President, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina.
He adds his name to an illustrious list comprising Mamoun Beheiry (Sudan), 1964-1970, Abdelwahab Labidi (Tunisia), 1970-1976, Kwame Donkor Fordwor (Ghana), 1976-1980, Willa Mung’Omba (Zambia), 1980-1985, Babacar N’diaye (Senegal), 1985-1995, Omar Kabbaj (Morocco), 1995-2005, Donald Kaberuka (Rwanda), 2005-2015, and Dr. Akinwumi Adesina (Nigeria), 2015-2025.
