Nigeria, May 23 -- When the history of this moment is written, it will not be remembered for its rivalries, nor for the theatre of diplomatic alignments. It will be remembered for whether Africa chose substance over symbolism - delivery over declarations. The African Development Bank, at sixty, stands at the gates of reinvention. The world is more fragmented. Aid is thinning. Interest rates are high. Africa's youth are restless. And yet, opportunity glimmers - if we have the courage to match ambition with credibility. In this decisive hour, Dr Sidi Ould Tah emerges not as the loudest candidate, but as the most capable.

The numbers speak starkly. In 2023, the AfDB disbursed just $6.1 billion - less than half of what the Inter-American Dev...