New chief of AfDB up against poverty and corruption

The new president of the African Development Bank (AfDB) to be elected here Wednesday faces a set of tough new challenges, including battling abject poverty and corruption and decentralising the institution. "The bank must continue to position itself as a key actor on the continent," said the outgoing president, Morocco's Omar Kabbaj. "It is obvious that an emerging and reviving Africa can only assure its development if it relies on a tuned in and efficient bank." "AfDB is at the crossroad. It is necessary that the AfDB be taken to the next level in terms of its performances," said Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria's finance minister who was presiding Wednesday's meeting. "The bank is promising provided it gets the right leadership."
Six candidates, from Cameroon, Gabon, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda and Zimbabwe, are in the race. Observers close to the meeting say the contest is likely to be between Gabon's Casimir Oye-Mba and Nigeria's Olabisi Ogunjobi, the bank's current vice president.
Kabbaj said it was "essential that the bank continue to center its operations on battling poverty."
Founded in 1964, the AfDB group is one of the world's five principal multilateral banks for development.
The president is elected in a closed-door meeting by its 77 governors, mainly African finance ministers and central bank governors, but also representatives of developed countries and international financial institutions.
To be elected, the candidate must have the support of a majority of African governors, and a majority of those from outside the continent.
Kabbaj said the bank planned to carry out a decentralisation plan, creating 25 offices by the end of 2006 "to be closer to the member states and their needs."
He also announced the creation of a committee to investigate and battle corruption.
Speaking to 1,200 delegates gathered in Abuja, Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, who currently heads the African Union (AU), urged them to "continue to reform our political and economic processes to create wealth, provide employment opportunities, re-establish and reinforce our 'social contract,' as well as eradicate abject poverty."
"The African continent can produce the raw materials for the manufacture of most items ever conceived or consumed by man. That is our heritage, it should also be to our advantage," said Obasanjo.