The President of the African Development Bank, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has been named the 2017 World Food Prize Laureate.
Adesina, whose name was selected on Monday at Washington, D.C, becomes the 46th recipient and the sixth African to be so honoured. The award ceremony would take place October 19.
Adesina was the Nigeria Minister of Agriculture under the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Announcing the new Laureate, Ambassador Kenneth Quinn, the President, The World Food Prize, The Hall of Laureates, described Adesina as “someone who grew out of poverty, but whose life mission is to lift up millions of people out of poverty”.
The prestigious $250,000 prize is given annually to a person who has worked to advance human development by “improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world”.
Over a 31-year existence, the award has become known as the “Nobel Prize’” for Food and Agriculture.
The announcement by Quinn was made at a ceremony held at the US Department of Agriculture, which was attended by US Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue.
Quinn said: “These individuals have been at the fore-front of every major breakthrough in agriculture and food production in the last 30 years.”
He said that the laureates had led the single greatest period of food production and hunger reduction in all human history.
According to him, nominations for the prize were submitted by organisations and prestigious individuals.
He said that a Selection Committee, made of individuals from around the world, makes the final decision.
Also, Perdue, attesting to the good works of Adesina, said the new Food Prize Laureate could fit in as the US Secretary of Agriculture.
In attendance were some past awardees; Nigeria’s former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; and Nigeria’s Acting Ambassador to the US and Chargé d’Affaires, Ambassador Hakeem Balogun.
Others included officials of the World Food Programme, members of the Diplomatic Corps and other US officials.
Since its founding in 1986, the Prize has honoured 45 individuals for their outstanding contributions to food security around the world.
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