Let the Soil Speak: A Decade of African Dignity and Development

IOL News

2 days ago

When the morning sun gilds the rooftops of Abidjan, it doesn't just mark a new day, it signals another chapter in Africa's quiet but determined rewriting of its destiny.
In a continent too often narrated in shadows, Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) has, over the past decade, spoken in light.
At what may be his final annual gathering with the press in his role as AfDB President, Adesina was not merely closing a chapter; he was bequeathing a manifesto. This was no hollow valedictory, it was a clarion, a drumbeat echoing across the savannahs and capitals alike: Africa's development must be pursued with pride.
Pride, not as pomp, but as purpose.
The Measure of a Legacy
When Adesina took the helm of the AfDB ten years ago, he did not walk into a vacuum. The Bank was a reputable institution, yes, but it lacked teeth in a global financing order that often read Africa as an afterthought. He sharpened those teeth. From a capital base of $93 billion (R1.67 trillion), the Bank under his leadership now commands $318 billion (R5.7 trillion), not as mere digits, but as vessels of life, infrastructure, light, and opportunity.
But as any African griot will tell you, you can't measure the rain only by how full the river runs, you must ask the farmer if the harvest came.
And so, Adesina pointed not to balance sheets but to the 565 million lives touched by the Bank's "High 5s": to light up and power Africa, feed Africa, industrialize Africa, integrate Africa, and improve the quality of life for the people.
From building a Bridge to electrification in forgotten corners of Kenya, the High 5s did more than build. They restored dignity.
He recalled a Kenyan woman who was asked what she thought of the Bank. She responded that she did not know the President, nor the Board. Her words were unfiltered truth:
'I don't know the African Development Bank. I just know that we were in darkness, and now we have light.'
In that single sentence lies the poetry of true development, when institutions disappear, and transformation becomes a lived reality.
The Sweat of Leadership
Adesina, charismatic yet grounded, spoke of the grey hairs earned during this journey. Not signs of aging, he insisted, but "battle marks from pushing against the tide of global indifference."
There is a tendency in international circles , often housed in glass towers far from dust and poverty, to measure leadership in conferences attended or communiqués issued. Adesina reminded us that African leadership, the kind that makes a dent, is measured in calloused hands, sleepless nights, and the refusal to accept mediocrity cloaked as realism.
He did not do it alone. "This is not the story of one man,' he said. 'It is the chorus of a continent refusing to be pitied and choosing instead to be proud.'
A New Horizon: The 2025 Elections
As the 2025 AfDB Annual Meetings return to Abidjan from May 26 to 30, the institution stands at a new crossroads. With the baton soon to be passed, one of the most closely watched contenders is Swazi Tshabalala, a strategic mind from South Africa whose pitch to BRICS AFRICA CHANNEL earlier this year was clear: 'Lift Africa.'
Her agenda is as pragmatic as it is aspirational: transform the Bank into a high-performance, digitally-enabled machine of delivery; unlock large-scale infrastructure as a foundation of continental competitiveness; fuel regional integration through private sector mobilisation and financial innovation.
In her vision, the AfDB becomes less a financier of projects and more a conductor of Africa's symphony of progress.
Her leadership plan is not one of wishful thinking. It is laced with the hard language of execution, efficiency, and outcomes. Tshabalala is betting on Africa's potential ,not just as a narrative but as capital. And her candidacy may well signal the continued Africanisation of African solutions.
Telling Africa's Story - Our Way
Adesina ended his remarks not with a conclusion, but with a challenge. 'You, the media, are not bystanders. You are amplifiers. You shape the world's imagination of Africa.'
In that statement lies a deeper truth: Africa is not lacking in achievements , it is underserved by storytelling.
Too often, the continent is misreported, or underreported, or worst, told through the eyes of those who never smelled the red earth or heard the morning prayers from a Nairobi slum or a Cape Flats mosque.
The narrative is not just about changing perceptions. It is about reclaiming ownership. As the old isiZulu proverb goes, 'Until the lion learns to write, every story will glorify the hunter.'
The Road Ahead
Africa's journey, to paraphrase Achebe, is not a sprint , it is a long walk across dry rivers, with dreams tucked into every blister. And yet, the vision that leaders like Adesina, and perhaps Tshabalala, are planting is one that does not merely dream. It builds.
So, when we speak of legacy, let us not mistake it for nostalgia. Let it be active , a verb, not a noun. A call to pick up the tools and shape a continent worthy of its children.
The African Development Bank, as it sets sail into its next decade, must remain both shield and spear. It must deflect the cynicism of old powers and pierce through the bureaucratic fog that often slows our stride.
For if a woman in a Kenyan village can remember the gift of light, surely the world can remember to look again, not at Africa's problems, but at its progress. With pride.
* Ayanda Holo is the President of TV BRICS AFRICA and a writer whose work on development, diplomacy, and dignity has been featured across global media. He was reporting from Abidjan during the 2025 AfDB Annual Meetings
** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL, Independent Media or The African.