Akinwunmi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank and former minister under President Goodluck Jonathan, has been awarded Tunisia’s highest official honor, the Grand Officer of the Tunisian Order of Merit .
The president of Tunisia; His Excellency Beji Caid Essebsi warmly welcomed him and others with a grand ceremony at the presidential palace.
Adesina has taken his crusading for an agricultural revolution everywhere on the continent. He galvanized the political will among African leaders to transform the agricultural sector and lobbied for effective policies to modernize farming and make the sector an attractive proposition for the young while easing the burdens of product distribution on small-scale farmers.
Since assuming the mantle at AfDB, he’s been awarded the Grand Officier of the National Order of the Lion of Senegal, Grand Officier of the Order of Valour of the Cameroon, Grand Officier of the National Order of Merit of Niger, Grand Officier of the Order of Mono of Togo, and Grand Cordon of the Order of the Star of Africa of Liberia.
He was also, in 2017, the winner of the World Food Prize, bestowed “for driving changes in African Agriculture for over 25 years and improving food security for millions across the continent.
Not many will forget in a hurry how as agriculture minister, he introduced the E-Wallet system for local farmers that effectively wiped out the corrupt middlemen that had hampered fertilizer distribution for decades. He also piloted initiatives to expand rice and cassava production and increase private sector investment in agriculture.
