Tag Archives: Babacar Ndiaye

AMA

Kaberuka, speakers call for a new era of strong African institutions at 9th Babacar Ndiaye Lecture

MaraviPost

London, United Kingdom, 6 November 2025 -/African Media Agency(AMA)/ Former President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Donald Kaberuka has called for Africa to strengthen and integrate its financial and governance institutions to safeguard the continent’s future in a rapidly fragmenting global order.

Delivering the 2025 Babacar Ndiaye Lecture on the sidelines of the World Bank Group/IMF Annual Meetings in Washington DC, Kaberuka warned that “the world is not waiting for Africa; therefore, Africa must not wait for the world,” and urged African nations to take ownership of their development agenda through resilient, homegrown institutions.

Reflecting on global power shifts, Kaberuka pointed to the return of mercantilism; rising narrow national interests; the end of the aid era; weakened global institutions; and the erosion of multilateralism as the five trends that are reshaping the global economy. For Africa, that means turning inward, while leading the charge for a renewed global architecture. “We can no longer rely on post-war institutions that were never designed to address Africa’s challenges,” he said. “Strong nations are built on strong, homegrown institutions; not on borrowed ideas or conditional generosity.”

Kaberuka emphasized that Africa’s development requires an ecosystem approach, where institutions across sectors – finance, trade, peace and security, health, and governance – operate in coordinated harmony rather than isolation. “Like an orchestra, African financial institutions on their own will not get to the end point. It has to be part of an ecosystem of African financial institutions and not simply financial institutions. They have to operate together in a symphony,” he urged.

Africa Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), Kaberuka said, must be commended for exemplifying this model through its support for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the regional economic communities and other initiatives and institutions of the continent. 

Kaberuka, who is also the Chairman and Managing Partner of SouthBridge, a financial advisory and investment firm, further argued that Africa must lead in reshaping global governance to reflect 21st-century realities and replace the post-World War II institutions such as the Bretton Woods system which were primarily designed for the reconstruction of Europe and Japan and not for the needs of emerging African economies. “We can no longer outsource our future to institutions that were never meant to serve us,” he said, calling for the continent to take a more assertive role in creating new multilateral frameworks that champion African priorities.

Kaberuka stressed that as the world moves from globalization to fragmentation, Africa’s ability to define and defend its interests will depend on the strength, coordination, and legitimacy of its own institutions. Pointing to over $1.1 trillion held by African pension and sovereign wealth funds, he called for new models to mobilize and connect this capital with global investment flows. “It is not only about mobilizing African capital,” he said. “It is about defining how that capital is deployed for Africa, by Africa.”

Earlier, in his welcome remarks, Dr George Elombi, Executive Vice President, Corporate Governance and Legal Services and incoming President of Afreximbank called for urgent action to strengthen Africa’s financial sovereignty through the completion of the continent’s financial architecture. Elombi said the time has come to move decisively toward the establishment of the African Monetary Fund and the African Central Bank as “full operational pillars of our sovereignty.”

He outlined some imperatives for African financial institutions going forward. These include mobilising domestic capital by deepening investment in African assets, ensuring regulatory clarity to uphold investor confidence and fully operationising the AfCFTA. He also called for expanding counter-cyclical capacity and encouraging collaboration with the African diaspora to boost investment and co-create solutions. “This, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, is the roadmap to an Africa that controls its own narrative and owns its own destiny. An Africa that does not wait to be defined by others, but defines itself through vision, resolve, and unity of action,” he emphasised.

Elombi, who has taken over as the 4th President of the pan-African Multilateral Development Bank following his selection by the board at the general shareholders meeting in June, reaffirmed Afreximbank’s preferred creditor status as an essential safeguard for Africa’s ability to finance its own development. Cautioning against narratives that question the credibility of African institutions, he noted that such criticism often arises “not because we fail, but because we succeed.” Afreximbank, he noted, has disbursed over $155bn in the past decade, including $18.7bn in 2024 alone. “These are not just numbers,” he said. “They represent jobs, freedom, and hope. They are living proof of what Africa can accomplish when trust is matched by capacity.” Elombi argued that the real challenge facing the continent is not risk, but perception. “Africa is not merely bankable; Africa is dependable,” he said.

Elombi also paid tribute to Dr. Babacar Ndiaye, the fifth president of the AfDB and one of the founders of Afreximbank, describing him as a man “whose vision turned words into action.” Ndiaye, he said, believed that Africa’s progress depended on institutions built, financed, and led by Africans, a conviction that gave rise to Afreximbank, Shelter Afrique Development Bank, and the African Business Roundtable. “Dr. Ndiaye understood that true independence means having the capacity to stand on our own and to shape our own future, no matter how the world around us changes,” he said. Elombi reaffirmed Afreximbank’s commitment to Ndiaye’s legacy, stressing that the agenda must continue “until the task of development is significantly achieved”.

During a fireside chat jointly moderated by Anver Versi, editor of New African magazine and Omar Ben Yedder Group Publisher and Managing Director, IC Publications, Dr. Misheck Mutize, Lead Expert, Country Support on Rating Agencies, Africa Union stressed the importance of preserving the preferred creditor status of Africa’s development finance institutions. He explained that the preferred creditor status is a long-standing principle enjoyed by traditional multilaterals like the IMF and World Bank which allows such institutions to lend counter-cyclically, continuing to support economies even in times of crisis. For Africa’s regional and continental financial institutions, he said, this principle is not a privilege but a right embedded in their founding treaties, as they too were established by member states to bridge financing gaps and fund essential infrastructure and development projects.

Dr. Mutize cautioned, however, that the validity of PCS for African multilaterals has come under increasing scrutiny from international credit rating agencies, especially following a few sovereign defaults on the continent. He rejected the notion that African development banks must offer concessional loans to qualify for PCS, arguing instead that these institutions perform a unique public mission – blending developmental purpose with financial sustainability. “The preferred creditor status lies at the core of Africa’s financing ecosystem,” he said. “It ensures our institutions can continue to lend when others retreat, sustain development momentum, and access global capital on fair terms.”

For her part, Professor Lisa Sachs, Director of the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment, advocated for reforms to the global financial system, which she said was “completely perverse and fundamentally broken.” She stressed that Africa’s development requires long-term, affordable finance, which is currently constrained by a global risk assessment framework that misrepresents Africa’s creditworthiness and growth potential. “The IMF acknowledges that Africa is the fastest-growing region in the world,” she said, “yet at the same time advises African governments not to borrow and invest. That contradiction shows how broken the system is.” Sachs said new international partners such as those in Asia and the Global South, who recognise Africa’s promise and are willing to build equitable financial partnerships that align with the continent’s development ambitions, offer a hopeful alternative for the continent.

Adding his voice, Professor Kako Nubukpo, formerly Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Management at the University of Lome stressed that shifting global perceptions of Africa’s risk “must begin with us,” and called for stronger governance and transparency to rebuild confidence. “We need to improve the perception that the rest of the world has of risk in Africa,” he said, warning against “a dangerous discourse that seems to prioritise mediocrity.” 

He further emphasised the need for genuine financial sovereignty, noting that “you can’t ask permission from the financial market to build a hospital.” True independence, he argued, will come only when African leaders “show vision, the ability to lead, and the courage to evaluate what we are doing.”

This year’s Babacar Ndiaye Lecture was the 9th in the series held in honour of the late Ndiaye, who was the driving spirit behind the establishment of Afreximbank and other key pan-African institutions. It was held under the theme “Leveraging Global Africa’s Capital for Development: The Imperative for Stronger African Financial Institutions amid Geo-economic Shifts” and was attended by policy makers and business leaders from the continent and the United States where it was held.

Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) on behalf of Afreximbank.

About Afreximbank

African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is a Pan-African multilateral financial institution mandated to finance and promote intra- and extra-African trade. For over 30 years, the Bank has been deploying innovative structures to deliver financing solutions that support the transformation of the structure of Africa’s trade, accelerating industrialisation and intra-regional trade, thereby boosting economic expansion in Africa. A stalwart supporter of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), Afreximbank has launched a Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) that was adopted by the African Union (AU) as the payment and settlement platform to underpin the implementation of the AfCFTA. Working with the AfCFTA Secretariat and the AU, the Bank has set up a US$10 billion Adjustment Fund to support countries effectively participating in the AfCFTA. At the end of December 2024, Afreximbank’s total assets and contingencies stood at over US$40.1 billion, and its shareholder funds amounted to US$7.2 billion. Afreximbank has investment grade ratings assigned by GCR (international scale) (A), Moody’s (Baa2), China Chengxin International Credit Rating Co., Ltd (CCXI) (AAA), Japan Credit Rating Agency (JCR) (A-) and Fitch (BBB-). Afreximbank has evolved into a group entity comprising the Bank, its equity impact fund subsidiary called the Fund for Export Development Africa (FEDA), and its insurance management subsidiary, AfrexInsure (together, “the Group”). The Bank is headquartered in Cairo, Egypt.

Media Contact:

Vincent Musumba

Communications and Events Manager (Media Relations)

Email: press@afreximbank.com

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Lifestyle

Africa’s youngest leader divides opinion over Russia ties

Maravi Post Reporter

As news emerged this week about hundreds of Burkina Faso citizens killed separately by both jihadi groups and government forces, images of Burkina Faso’s junta leader Capt. Ibrahim Traore were plastered over Russian state media speaking about pan-Africanism and liberating the minds of the continent’s youths.

Traore, who was in Moscow for the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, is Africa’s youngest leader at 37, a strong appeal for the continent’s young population that is used to much older leaders.

Since coming to power in September 2022 after the country’s second coup that year, he has dwelt on a rhetoric of self-reliance and independence from the West, particularly former colonial ruler France — a message that often resonates with young Africans and the diaspora.

Why is Traore trending

The latest Traore frenzy reached a new peak late April with a solidarity march in the country’s capital, Ouagadougou, following an alleged coup attempt and comments by Gen. Michael Langley, the head of U.S. military in Africa, accusing the Burkina Faso leader of misusing the country’s gold reserves.

Following the 2022 coup that brought him to power, Traore promised to end the country’s decadeslong deadly security crisis and leverage its rich mineral resources for the benefit of its 24 million citizens.

Alongside the coup-hit nations of Niger and Mali, Burkina Faso has since severed ties with the regional bloc of ECOWAS — criticized by many young Africans as representing the interest of leaders and not the citizens — as well as longstanding Western allies such as France, whose military provided security support to the government for many years to help its security crisis.

Analysts and locals suggest that these factors, combined with his youth, have contributed to Traore’s appeal among young Africans.

“There is a growing consciousness among African youth at home and abroad that they need to do something about the continent’s lack of progress,” said Richard Alandu, a Ghanaian living near the border with Burkina Faso. “It appears Traore has become the face of that consciousness.”

How has Traore fared as Burkina Faso’s junta leader

The security crisis that Traore vowed to resolve has worsened instead, slowing the country’s overall economic development and preventing most citizens from benefiting from its mineral wealth, according to analysts and researchers’ data.

“There has been no real progress on the ground” in Burkina Faso, said Gbara Awanen, a professor of international relations and security studies at Nigeria’s Baze University, who specializes in West Africa. “A lot of it is just sleek propaganda.”

Data from the U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, or ACLED, shows that while 2,894 people were killed by both government and armed groups during the year before the 2022 coup, the number has more than doubled to at least 7,200 in the last year.

Analysts say the attacks have worsened to the point that Ouagadougou is now increasingly threatened, with more than 60% of the country outside of government control. At least 2.1 million people have lost their homes as a result of the violence, and almost 6.5 million need humanitarian aid to survive, conservative estimates show.

Propaganda rhythms

Babacar Ndiaye, a senior fellow at the Senegal-based Timbuktu Institute for Peace Studies, attributes the current frenzy surrounding Traore primarily to his popularity — and Russia-driven propaganda

Despite Burkina Faso’s worsening security crisis, Traore still has “so much resonance and interest simply because of propaganda,” Ndiaye said. “In Africa, there is deep frustration with the traditional leadership, so there is polarized anger towards a scapegoat that is the west.”

West Africa, meanwhile, has a history of young men seizing power as exemplified by John Jerry Rawlings in Ghana, Samuel Doe in Liberia and Thomas Sankara in Burkina Faso, all in the 1980s. That history, placed against the perceived failure of Western-style democracy in Africa, has helped to create conditions for idolizing the likes of Traore.

Still, allegations of propaganda do not adequately explain the excitement that has built up around Africa’s youngest ruler, according to Chidi Odinkalu, an Africa analyst and professor at Tufts University.

“Traore articulates a revolutionary message that is appealing to a young population frustrated by the thievery of what passes for ‘democracy’ in their own countries,” said Odinkalu.

Source: Africanews

Regional

An emotional tribute in memory of former AfDB President Babacar Ndiaye

MaraviPost

Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, September 23, 2017 – “Goodbye, Papa, farewell to the ambassador for Africa’s development, rest in peace.” In an intensely emotional tribute, the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Adesina Akinwumi, opened a ceremony honouring Babacar Ndiaye at the organisation’s headquarters in Abidjan.
Adesina announced that the AfDB headquarters auditorium will be named Babacar Ndiaye Auditorium.

Babacar Ndiaye, the Bank Group’s fifth elected President, who served two terms between 1985 and 1995, passed away on July 13, 2017 in Senegal.

In attendance were Ndiaye’s widow and several children former AfDB President Kantinka Dr Kwame D. Fordwor, members of the Senegalese and Ivorian Governments, representatives of the diplomatic corps, and active and retired AfDB staff members. Adesina fondly recalled Babacar Ndiaye’s complete and passionate commitment to the development of Africa.
“He was an AfDB icon, he was a father and mentor to every one of us, and emphatically launched the career of the Bank Group’s current President. He inspired us. In losing him, Africa has lost one of its best sons.”

President Adesina underlined the personal ties between him and his predecessor, recalling that he knew Ndiaye when he worked for the West Africa Rice Development Association (WADRA), which was then based in Bouaké, Côte d’Ivoire.

“Babacar Ndiaye was charismatic, and left an indelible mark on our continent. His legacy is vast, because he always saw the big picture. He was quite simply magnificent,” Adesina stated.
He added, “During the campaign for the AfDB presidency, I naturally went to see him in Dakar. He welcomed me warmly. I took the opportunity to tell him about my vision for the High 5s. He agreed right away, and told me, ‘That’s what Africa needs to transform itself.'”

Arriving at the institution in 1965 as part of the first group of African managers, Ndiaye climbed the organisational ladder to become Division Chief, Director, Vice-President for Finance, and then President in 1985. Babacar Ndiaye was the first AfDB President to be re-elected to a second term of office.

Under his leadership, the pan-African financial institution obtained its first Triple-A rating in 1984.

The former President was the force behind the increase in the Bank’s capital in 1987, which jumped from approximately US $6 billion to $23 billion, a 200% increase, after approving the process of opening the Bank’s capital to non-African countries. He was also responsible for bringing the Bank into the international financial market.

“Babacar Ndiaye accomplished tremendous things for the AfDB and for Africa. He always advocated for excellence. He made the AfDB a credible and respected institution internationally,” stated Donald Kaberuka, former AfDB President (2005-2015), in a message read on his behalf by Victor Oladokun, AfDB Director for Communication and External Relations.

Builder of institutions

Beyond his complete commitment to the Bank’s success and providing it with a solid foundation, Babacar Ndiaye helped establish major pan-African institutions, such as the African Import-Export Bank, Afreximbank; Shelter Afrique; and the African Business Roundtable. Representatives of these organizations were specially sent from Cairo, Lagos and Nairobi to attend the tribute ceremony on Thursday.

“Without Babacar Ndiaye, African industry leaders such as Aliko Dangote or Michael Ibru would undoubtedly not be where they are today. Babacar Ndiaye invested his faith and perseverance in Africa’s business community. We will be eternally grateful to him,” said Bamanga Tukur, President of the African Business Roundtable.
Christopher Edordu, founding President of Afreximbank, highlighted Ndiaye’s visionary approach, which allowed him to look beyond the era’s Afro-pessimism and embrace opportunities to finance African businesses.

“It took more than six years to establish Afreximbank. When others abandoned it, Babacar Ndiaye persevered and had patience. He firmly believed in the future of African trade at a time when that belief was not widely shared. Seeing what we have become today, we have to recognize the fact that he was a true visionary,” Edordu explained.

It was not the only time that the AfDB’s fifth elected President was proven right when confronted with naysayers. At a time when housing was not yet central to urban development in Africa, he encouraged the creation of Shelter Afrique, an organisation dedicated to financing affordable housing on the continent.

According to Edmond Adikpe, Shelter Afrique’s regional representative, “Babacar Ndiaye knew how to anticipate. He understood early on that Africa must address the problem of housing. At Shelter Afrique, we are eternally thankful to him for everything he did during our creation and evolution.”

The room was filled with emotion as one speaker followed another, with the audience warmly applauding their words of praise for Babacar Ndiaye, who remains the only President in AfDB history to have risen through the ranks of the organisation.

“He was installed as President in 1985 at the Abidjan Congress Centre in the presence of then Ivorian President Félix Houphouët-Boigny, who held the African Development Bank in high esteem,” recalled Paul Morisho Yuma, former AfDB Secretary General, drawing a standing ovation from the audience.

“Senegal is proud of you”

Although he devoted his life to Africa, Babacar Ndiaye never forgot Senegal, his country of origin. According to the Senegalese Budget Minister, Birima Mangara, AfDB Governor for Senegal, who flew in from Dakar to attend this ceremony, Ndiaye contributed significantly to the development of bilateral cooperation between his country and the Bank. “Between 1972 and now, the AfDB has invested close to 1,400 billion CFA francs in Senegal. We owe that to all of you here, but in particular to Babacar Ndiaye.

“Senegal is proud of you as a son. Babacar Ndiaye is not gone; he is still present in the depths of Africa. We hear his breath in an Africa on the move,” added the Senegalese Budget Minister, paraphrasing the poet Birago Diop.

Ndiaye’s widow, Marlyne Ndiaye, nodded her head in agreement, with tears in her eyes. Arriving in Abidjan in 1965, Babacar Ndiaye developed a special relationship with Côte d’Ivoire, home of the Bank’s headquarters. No fewer than three Ivoirian Ministers were present in the AfDB auditorium this week.

“He was a friend of Côte d’Ivoire. We all miss Babacar Ndiaye. President Alassane Ouattara misses him, having known him well and greatly appreciated him. He was a roving ambassador for African development,” agreed François Albert Amichia, Minister of Sports and Leisure, who led the Ivorian Government delegation.

His memory lives on

Alassane Ndiaye, son of the deceased, spoke on behalf of his family. He first thanked the Bank for taking the initiative to hold the ceremony to honour and pay tribute to his father. “The entire family is proud of and thankful for this ceremony. What you have done today touches us deeply and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts,” said the Ndiaye family’s spokesman, in a voice filled with emotion.

He urged those present to pursue the trail blazed by his father.

“He wanted the best for Africa. He believed in and loved the idea of a better Africa. Let’s continue to work for a better future for our continent. That would be the best and most unique way to perpetuate his hopes and his memory,” continued Alassane Ndiaye.

“Replacing darkness with light, well-nourished and healthy children, free flow of goods, people and ideas throughout the continent, and restoring hope to the hopeless – these were the ideals to which President Babacar Ndiaye dedicated his life. The work to realize these dreams continues in the High 5s,” declared AfDB Senior Vice-President Charles Boamah at the ceremony’s conclusion.

Last July, a high-level delegation from the Bank, led by Charles Boamah, along with Vice-Presidents Alberic Kacou and Amadou Hott, Acting Vice-President, Finance, Hassatou N’Sele, and Director of Special Projects Sipho Moyo, attended Babacar Ndiaye’s funeral in Dakar.

During a recent visit to the Senegalese capital, President Adesina visited his predecessor’s home to express his sympathy and support his widow and children.