Africa’s true wealth lies not only in its natural resources but also in its ability to govern them transparently, enforce contracts fairly, and ensure justice for all citizens, outgoing African Development Bank Group (AfDB) President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina has said.
“Evidence suggests that foreign direct investments move more to countries that have political stability, stable democracies, transparency and low levels of corruption,” Dr. Adesina said in his closing keynote titled Public Finance, Governance, Justice and Development at the Law Society of Kenya’s 2025 Annual Conference.
“At the heart of the dissonance [between richness in natural resources and economic prosperity] is the issue of governance and rule of law over natural resources. Nations that have strong natural resource laws and rule of law have been able to turn their natural resources into wealth for their population,” he added.
Africa faces a $100 billion annual gap in foreign direct investment, he noted, a situation compounded by weak rule of law rankings, debt vulnerabilities, and predatory “vulture fund” cases. These involve investors buying national debt at a discount on secondary markets, then exploiting weak legal systems to sue debtor nations for full repayment — plus backdated interest and legal fees.
Other key drivers, he added, include an independent and transparent judiciary, strong regulatory frameworks, public accountability, efficient public service, competition policy, and respect for intellectual property rights.
“Investors choice of foreign jurisdictions suggest preferences for legal systems they know and trust, and their belief that there is rule of law and judicial independence, transparency in their nations. By implication it suggests that they do not trust the judicial systems in African countries,” Dr. Adesina said, “African judiciary systems should rise to this challenge. They must assure judicial independence that engenders trust and confidence of foreign investors in dealing transparently, justly and fairly with disputes – essentially, assure the rule of law.”
He also underlined the vital connection between justice and development, arguing that access to justice must be universal. This means legal aid, digitised courts, and grievance mechanisms that bring the law closer to citizens.
“Justice is not a byproduct of development — it is the foundation of development,” the AfDB declared.
Dr. Adesina has urged African nations to strengthen judicial independence and transparency to attract global capital, reform natural resource laws to ensure benefits reach communities, not elites, develop sovereign wealth funds to safeguard prosperity for future generations, and to build strong arbitration systems to settle disputes locally and fairly.
