Adesina underscores connection between justice, development

…calls for bold legal, governance reform

By Jimoh Babatunde

The President of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has stressed that justice is the bedrock of sustainable development, insisting that access to justice must be universal for Africa to thrive.

“When Africa stands for the rule of law, the world will stand with Africa,” Adesina declared while addressing more than 1,200 lawyers, judges, and government officials at the Kenya Law Society’s 2025 Annual Conference in Diani, near Mombasa.

According to him, justice cannot be treated as a byproduct of economic growth. “Justice is not a byproduct of development — it is the foundation of development,” he said, pointing to the transformative role of judicial independence, sound public finance, and transparent governance in securing sustainable prosperity.

Adesina emphasised that Africa’s true wealth lies not only in its abundant natural resources but also in its ability to manage them with transparency, enforce contracts fairly, and guarantee justice for all citizens.

Turning challenges into opportunities

He highlighted Africa’s $100 billion annual shortfall in foreign direct investment (FDI), which he attributed in part to weak rule of law rankings, debt vulnerabilities, and the rise of predatory “vulture fund” litigations. These funds, he explained, buy discounted sovereign debt and then exploit fragile legal systems to sue for full repayment plus accumulated interest and fees.

“Evidence suggests that foreign direct investments move more to countries that have political stability, stable democracies, transparency, and low levels of corruption,” he noted. Strong legal institutions, transparent judiciaries, robust regulatory frameworks, public accountability, efficient public service delivery, competition policies, and protection of intellectual property rights were also listed as critical drivers of investor confidence.

Call for reform

To address these challenges, Adesina urged African countries to:

Strengthen judicial independence and transparency to attract global capital;

Reform natural resource laws so that communities, not just elites, benefit;

Establish sovereign wealth funds to safeguard prosperity for future generations; and

Build strong African arbitration systems capable of settling disputes locally and fairly.

He charged Africa’s lawyers, judges, and arbitrators to act as “guardians of promise and stewards of destiny” by upholding constitutional safeguards in public finance.

In closing, Adesina called on members of the Kenya Law Society to champion ethics and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles, digitise court systems, modernise legal infrastructure, and protect national assets from predatory debt practices.

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