US embassy cable - 04ABUJA1163

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 001163 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AF/W FOR DAN EPSTEIN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, EAID, NI, AID 
SUBJECT: LETTER FROM PRESIDENT OBASANJO TO PRESIDENT BUSH 
ANNOUNCING NOMINATION FOR AFRICAN DEVEOLPMENT BANK 
PRESIDENCY 
 
1.  (U) Following is the text of a letter from President 
Obasanjo to President Bush seeking the USG's support for the 
GON's nomination of Mr. Olasbisi O. Ogunjobi to be the next 
President of the African Development Bank.  Biographical 
information on Ogunjobi is provided following the text of 
President Obasanjo's letter.  Letter was received at the 
Embassy on June 27.  Signed original has been sent to AF/W by 
registered pouch number 2361956. 
 
2.  (U) Begin Text: 
 
June 16, 2004 
 
His Excellency, 
Mr. George Bush, 
President of the United States of America 
White House, 
Washington, DC, U.S.A. 
 
Dear President, 
 
The African Development Bank (ADB), as you well know, is our 
foremost international financial institution in the continent 
today.  Since the establishment of strong partnership with 
the Non-Regional member countries, the ADB had gone through 
many phases and made significant strides in becoming a 
credible international financial institution for the economic 
development of Africa.  The Bank's recent progress in terms 
of its financial performance, strong shareholders support and 
the institutional reforms undertaken by the Boards of 
Directors and the Management clearly indicate that the Bank 
has not only matured, but also, has the financial and human 
resource base required for meeting its development mandate 
for the continent. 
 
To this end and, in recognition of the Bank's important role, 
that the Heads of State Implementation Committee of the New 
Partnership for the Development of Africa (NEPAD) initiative 
designated ADB as the lead agency for Infrastructure and 
Banking and Financial Standards.  It is gratifying to note 
that the Bank has been very supportive of the NEPAD 
Secretariat and is discharging the assigned responsibilities 
 
SIPDIS 
creditably. 
 
Against this background, I wish to bring to the kind 
attention of Your Excellency that the tenure of office of the 
incumbent President of the Bank, Mr. Omar Kabbaj, a national 
of the Kingdom of Morocco, will expire in mid-2005, having 
served the maximum permissible two-term mandate of ten (10) 
years.  In this connection, I strongly believe that all 
shareholders should work to ensure a smooth succession plan. 
 
In my view, the Bank will require a new President that can 
sustain, institutionalize and build on the laudable 
achievements of the Bank under the leadership of Mr. Kabbaj. 
Apart from the proven competence of such a new President, the 
candidate for the post should be very familiar with the 
institution's policies and operations as well as enjoy the 
confidence and support of the African countries and the major 
shareholders such as your country. 
 
In view of our close working relations on several bilateral 
and international issues of common interest to our two 
countries, I wish to inform Your Excellency of my proposal to 
nominate and seek your personal endorsement and support for a 
Nigerian candidate in the person of Mr. Olabisi Ogunjobi as 
the next ADB President.  Mr. Ogunjobi is currently the 
Vice-President, Operations, West and Central Africa of the 
Bank.  He has over thirty-three (33) years of international 
financial and development banking experience.  Out of this 
rich and long-standing international banking profile, he 
garnered twenty-six (26) years experience in the ADB, serving 
in various professional and senior management positions. 
Before his appointment as a Vice-President in early 2002, he 
had served as Director for several departments for eleven 
(11) years.  He has been on of the key architects of the 
recent achievements of the Bank.  Prior to joining the ADB, 
he was from 1976-77, Adviser at the International North-South 
Dialogue in Paris, France.  He also served as a Senior 
Economist at the Central Bank of Nigeria from 1971-1975.  A 
brief summary of his profile is attached for your perusal. 
 
I sincerely believe that with your valued personal 
endorsement and the strong backing of your country, we can 
together mobilize the support of other shareholders to ensure 
the election of Mr. Ogunjobi as the next President in the 
service of our Bank. 
 
While looking forward to your early and favourable response, 
please accept, Your Excellency, the assurances of my esteemed 
and highest consideration. 
 
Yours Sincerely, 
 
/signature/ 
 
Olusegun Obasanjo 
 
3.  (U) End text of letter. 
 
4.  (U) Begin text of Ogunjobi bio: 
 
Mr. Olabisi O. Ogunjobi has since 2002 held the position of 
Vice President, Operations for West and Central Africa 
regions of the African Development Bank.  He has 33 years of 
national and international financial and development banking 
experience.  During his 26-year career in the Bank, he worked 
in the Research and Policy Planning and Operations 
departments covering West, Central, North and Southern 
regions of Africa.  From 1984-1990, he served as the Bank's 
Regional Representative for Southern Africa and from 1991 to 
2001 he held the positions of Director, Country Programs for 
West Africa; Director, Country Operations for North Africa; 
and Director, Operations and Policies Review Department.  He 
also served as the Operations Advisor to the Vice-President 
Operations. 
 
Mr. Ogunjobi possesses hands on operational and management 
experience in the Bank for directing, supervising and 
coordinating the implementation of the Bank Group activities 
and portfolio.  He participated in the resource mobilization 
and replenishment negotiations and Mid-Term Reviews of the 
African Development Fund from (ADF 1V to ADF 1X) that is, 
from 1986 to date. 
 
He spearheaded the conception, adoption and implementation of 
several operations and policy initiatives in the Bank 
including the reduction of the Bank's commitment fees to 
ensure competitiveness of ADB resources; the introduction of 
the non-sovereign guarantees loans; and the Rural Water 
Supply and Sanitation Initiative.  He was closely associated 
with the formulation of the Bank Group strategic orientation 
documents, ranging from Five Year Operations Program of the 
1980's to the Bank's Vision of 1999 and the current Strategic 
Plan from 2003-2007. 
 
As Vice-President, Operations for West and Central Africa of 
the Bank he has oversight responsibility for the Bank Group 
operations in 26 countries in the two regions in the sectors 
of Agriculture and Rural Development, Infrastructure and 
Public Utility as well as Human Resources Development.  He 
chairs the Senior Management Committee for operation in the 
regions and in the absence of the President, on several 
occasions he served as the Acting President and Chairman of 
the Board of Directors. 
 
Mr. Ogunjobi was born in Nigeria in 1947.  He graduated in 
Economics from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria (B.Sc.) and 
holds a postgraduate Master of Arts degree in International 
Development Studies from Bradford University in the United 
Kingdom.  Prior to joining the ADB, he served from 1976-1977 
as Adviser to the international North-South Dialogue in 
Paris, France and worked in the Research Department of the 
Central Bank of Nigeria from 1971-1995 (sic) as Senior 
Economist.  He has held several corporate Board appointments 
including serving on the Boards of Directors of Zimbabwe 
Development Bank, Development Bank of Zambia and Afrexim Bank 
Cairo, Egypt.  He holds traditional Chieftaincy titles from 
Nigeria and Cameroon.  He is a founder of an Education 
Development Foundati 
 
5.  (U) End text. 
CAMPBELL