Nigeria’s Finance Minister Bags Historic World Bank Appointment

Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, has been appointed to chair the African Governors’ Forum of the World Bank.

The appointment marks the first time Nigeria has assumed the role of chairman in 60 years.

According to the Federal Ministry of Finance on Saturday, “the appointment presents a unique opportunity for Nigeria and the implementation of President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.”

LEADERSHIP recalls that Wale Edun had in mid-August formally resumed office as Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister for the Economy after his appointment by President Bola Tinubu and subsequent confirmation by the Senate.

The African Governors Forum or African Caucus was established in 1963, as the “African Group,” with the objective of strengthening the voice of African Governors in the Bretton Woods Institutions (BWIs), i.e. the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG), on development issues of particular interest to Africa.

Membership to the Caucus is open to all African Countries who are members of the IMF and WBG, currently all the 54 countries on the African continent. The countries are represented by their respective Governors at these institutions, commonly referred to as the African Governors, who are usually Ministers of Finance and Economic Development, and Central Bank Governors.

Views and concerns of African Governors are conveyed to the heads of the BWIs through a Memorandum and that is done annually at the Annual Meetings of the two institutions. The first such Memorandum dates back to September 11, 1964 and that was delivered to the heads of the BWIs at the occasion of the 1964 Annual Meetings in Tokyo, Japan.

The African Caucus meets twice yearly; first, in the host country of the Chairperson of the Caucus and secondly, at the venue of the Annual Meetings of the IMF and WBG.