Nigeria has recently strengthened its position as a shareholder in the AfDB's capital, increasing its stake to 16.8% from 9.05% at the end of July 2020. This is positive for the current AfDB President, who is a candidate for his own succession.

Nigeria has strengthened its position as the largest shareholder of the African Development Bank (AfDB) by increasing its stake and voting rights to 16.8%, according to information reported by Bloomberg. The analysis of an investor presentation published on August 14, 2020 by the institution leads to the conclusion that this level of participation of Africa's largest economy in terms of GDP is quite recent.

In this document, it is indicated that at the end of July 2020, Nigeria had already strengthened its position as the Bank's largest African shareholder, but had only 9.05% of the voting rights against 8.5% at the end of April 2020. It is not excluded that this strengthening has been achieved thanks to the resumption of unpaid subscriptions by other African countries.

Despite the Nigerian progress, the weight of the African region in the capital of the AfDB remained at just over 60.09%, according to concordant media sources.

With this new position, Nigeria is expected to weigh in the discussions of the AfDB's Boards of Governors at its annual meetings to be held this year on August 25 and 26, 2020. It is also comforting for the current AfDB President, Akiwumi Adesina, who is of Nigerian origin. The only candidate at the head of the institution, he will however have to obtain the necessary votes to maintain himself.

Recall that Nigeria is part of a strategy to play a major role in the most important funding bodies in Africa. In addition to the AfDB President, another Nigerian citizen, Benedict Oramah, presides over the destiny of Afreximbank, the African import-export finance bank. It is also a Nigerian, Ade Ayeyemi, who is at the head of Ecobank, the banking group with the largest presence in Africa.