Corruption not an African issue alone, it is global - Akinwumi Adesina

The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr Akinwumi Adesina is of the believe that corruption is not an African issue but a global menace.

Speaking during an interview with the UK Guardian, Adesina said that corruption is found mostly in the financial and economic sectors in Europe.

In his submission, he noted that it is time for the world to emulate country like Eritrea where corruption is zero per cent.

The AFDB President also urged African countries to improve in accountability of public resources and place value on its raw materials including, oil and gas, minerals, metals and food.

Adesina said;

“The global financial crisis that brought the world down in 2008, was not in Africa. We have no Wall Street. That collapse came from greed, from corruption, from fraud.

“You have people cooking the books that are in the financial industry in Europe, not in Africa. Corruption is not an African issue.

“The issue is, that is not to say that there’s none. What you have to do is to continue to improve transparency, and accountability in the use of public resources.

“During my first visit to Eritrea, I was talking to UN Development Programme staff. You know what they told me? That, in Eritrea, corruption is zero percent.

“Why do we not talk about that? That’s the kind of thing that we want to do. For us as a development bank, we take good governance very seriously.”

Adesina also, accused multinational companies of backing illegal capital flows in Africa, adding that there is a need to beam a searchlight in that direction.