The Nigerian foreign minister’s speech in Atlanta Dec. 5 on the global impact of Barack Obama’s election as U.S. president had its origin in a conference the Southern Center for International Studies held in Athens in March.

According to Cedric Suzman, vice president and director of programming at the Southern Center, Nigeria’s Atlanta-based Consul General Chudi Okafor suggested while attending the forum that his country’s foreign minister, Ojo Maduekwe, deliver a major address in Atlanta.

Mr. Okafor attended the center’s 16th annual forum with the U.S. secretaries of state.  During the forum, former secretaries Madeline Albright, James Baker III, Warren Christopher, Colin Powell and Henry Kissinger provided advice to the incoming administration.

“The consul general indicated at the forum that his foreign minister would want to give his views in an address following the election,” Mr. Suzman told GlobalAtlanta. “We were inspired by him to issue the invitation and the minister accepted.”

Mr. Maduekwe had attended a cabinet meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, before flying to London for a meeting and then on to Atlanta where he stayed until returning to Nigeria.

While in Atlanta he met with former President Jimmy Carter, attended a service at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, led a town hall discussion with members of the local Nigerian community and was interviewed on CNN International.

The foreign policy address was sponsored by Chevron and the J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University.

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