By AgroNigeria
African Development Bank (AfDB) outgoing Director of Communication and External Relations, Dr. Victor Oladokun, has been described as an outstanding professional who showed exceptional leadership in office.
Dr. Oladokun was appointed in 2017 and served for two and a half years, effectively communicating the Bank’s policies on agriculture and other sectors, across boards.
AfDB President, Dr. Adesina who hailed Oladokun for his exceptional leadership, described as incomparable, his engagement in communicating the Bank’s continental and global activities.
“Victor joined the Bank two and a half years ago and has provided exceptional leadership on communication.
“He has led an outstanding team. We have built a structure that is able to support us, to get our news out globally and at the regional level and to make sure that our member countries and shareholders are fully aware of what we are doing. We never had that.”
Adesina added that Oladokun had contributed greatly to the training of local and regional journalists, as well as better reportage of the Bank’s policies.
“I must say that the quality of the support that the communication team has provided to the Bank for our Annual Meetings had been simply remarkable. We have now reached a bar.
“I would like for all of us to thank Victor Oladokun for being an outstanding professional, for being such a dedicated staff, for being somebody who mentored and supported all of his staff. Victor, as you leave the Bank, please go well. Our thoughts and blessings are with you,” he said.
Lauding Adesina’s leadership style, Oladokun described his work experience at the Bank as a ‘single honour’ of his professional life, charging other members of the communication team to be unrelenting.
The retiring director has been a constant advocate for Africa’s agriculture, emphasizing the need to rouse efforts in ameliorating the growth of the continent’s agriculture.
“What we do with African agriculture today will determine the future of food in the world,” he once said at the AfDB headquarters.
