General Secretariat

The AADFI General-Secretariat is located in Abidjan, Republic of Cote d’Ivoire.
The Secretariat is responsible for the implementation of the decisions of the Board and the General Assembly. In Addition, it performs the following tasks:

  • Strategy implementation

  • Convening the Board of Directors and/or General Assembly (Board Member)

  • Capacity-building, Seminars and other meetings

  • Information management.

The Head of the Secretariat is the Secretary-General, who is also the Secretary and ex-officio member of the Board.
From 1975 to 1994, the African Development Bank (AfDB) hosted the AADFI Secretariat and provided the Secretary Generals from its directorate-level cadre. The following distinguished staff of the Bank were the Secretary Generals at the time of their services to the Bank:

  • 1974-1977

    G.R. Aithnard

  • 1977-1978

    H. Meliane

  • 1978-1981

    J. B. Ansoada

  • 1981-1983

    P. William

  • J.S. Apithy

    J.S. Apithy

  • 1987-1990

    G. Henry Andrews

  • 1990-1994

    M. O. Cheikh-Sidia

Since the Association became autonomous in 1994 after about 18 years of AfDB tutelage, the Association has successively appointed the following Secretary-General:

  • 1994-1997

    J. A. Hammond

  • 1997-2001

    M. Wade

  • 2001-2020

    Joseph. A. Amihere

  • 2020 to date

    Cyril A. Okoye

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2026 AADFI Annual General Assembly

The Association of African Development Finance Institutions (AADFI) is pleased to announce that its 2026 Annual General Assembly will take place from May 24 to 29, 2026, in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, on the sidelines of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Annual Meetings.

The Annual General Assembly will be held on the theme “Augmenting Sovereign Finance in Africa: DFIs Unlocking Growth and Resilience through NAFA,” with a focus on the transformative role of African Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) in strengthening Africa’s financial sovereignty. The discussions will align with the AfDB-led New African Financial Architecture (NAFA), a system-level framework designed to mobilize long-term investment, reduce Africa’s cost of capital, and reinforce resilience through coordinated financial systems and deeper domestic capital markets.

The Annual General Assembly will convene leaders of African DFIs, government officials, regional institutions, and development partners to further explore how African DFIs can catalyze local investment, de-risk strategic projects, and strengthen economic autonomy to build resilience against global shocks and bridge the continent’s infrastructure funding gap.

Further details will be shared in the coming weeks.

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