Jennifer Blanke AFDB Vice President resigns, eulogizes Adesina

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has announced the resignation of Dr. Jennifer Blanke, Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development. This was made known on Wednesday by the bank’s Communications and External Relations Department.

Blanke, whose resignation takes effect from July 4, 2020, joined the Bank in 2017 and had overseen a number of the bank’s key programmes, said she is leaving the bank purely for family reasons.

The statement quoted Blanke as saying “I thank President Akinwumi Adesina for his strong leadership, guidance and support which have undoubtedly motivated and helped my team and I to play a key role in the transformation of the bank.

“I feel privileged to have been given an opportunity to contribute to the bank’s agenda for accelerating Africa’s social and economic trasformation.

“I am leaving purely for family reasons to rejoin my family in Switzerland after a very fulfilling time at the bank. I will miss the bank and the excellent team we have built. I will continue to strongly support the bank from whereever I am,” she stated.

Meanwhile, the president of AfDB, Akinwunmi Adesina expressed delight to have worked with the outgoing vice president for more than three years and she had demostrated genuine leadership skills.

According to him, Blanke had moved “the needle on so many fronts especially in the areas of food security, women financial empowerment and job creation”.

The AfDB boss wished her all the best and looked forward to continued partnership and engagement with her.