January 19th, 2009
Washington DC (USA) - Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, will lead a delegation of eminent Nigerian personalities to the inauguration ceremony of President-elect of the United States, Mr Barack Obama.
This is coming as Obama and Vice-president-elect, Joe Biden, rode into Washington, D.C. Saturday night on a daylong rail trip, retracing the path Abraham Lincoln took in 1861. The trip kicked off in Philadelphia and ended in the capital city.
Nigeria’s team to this historic occasion will include former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, Ambassador Dapo Fafowora, former Nigerian Ambassador to the United States, Prof George Obiozor, among others. THISDAY gathered that the delegation arrived Washington, D.C. Saturday night and will be attending high-level meetings with policy and decision makers in the capital city.
Sources said this was a strategic move by the Nigerian government bearing in mind the significance of Obama’s election and what it portends for the country.
They will also be at a two-hour symposium today to discuss Africa’s place in the new administration. The symposium titled “The New Terms of Engagement for Africa for the Obama Administration” is organised by Washington, D.C. based Non Governmental Organisation (NGO), Africa Aspire and will be held at the Nigerian Embassy. It will feature a panel of experts, President of Senegal, Abdoulaye Wade, as the Keynote Speaker and former United States (US) Ambassador to Nigeria, Howard Jeter, as the moderator.
Other speakers are Senior Fellow for Africa Policy Studies, Council on Foreign Relations, Ambassador Princeton Lyman (rtd), Spokesperson for the Obama Presidential Campaign on Africa, Dr Witney Schneidman, Professor and former Chair, African Studies Department of Howard University, Dr Sulayman Nyang, President of Africare, Mr Julius Cole and Professor of Anthropology and Foreign Service, Dr Gwendolyn Mikel.
THISDAY learnt that the African Diaspora is actively seeking to place Africa’s interests at the forefront of US foreign policy in the next eight years. The symposium is one of such events driving that agenda, it was gathered. The speakers will discuss issues that affect both continents including national security, conflict resolution, education, energy, economic growth and development and the environment. In picking the participants, THISDAY learnt that Africa Aspire reached out to African leaders who will play a key role in developing a new relationship between the US and the continent that will be mutually beneficial. The organisation also picked American experts that are familiar with the continent and have an idea of the new government’s expectations for Africa and the African Diaspora that would be critical in shaping a new relationship.
According to Africa Aspire, its mission is to “engage the perspectives of African leaders, expert advisors to the Obama administration and leading intellectuals in the African Diaspora to inform and help shape the new administration’s policy toward Africa.”
Obama pointed out the vast challenges facing the new administration. “Only a handful of times in our history has a generation been confronted with challenges so vast. An economy that is faltering, two wars - one that needs to be ended responsibly, one that needs to be waged wisely, a planet that is warming from our unsustainable dependence on oil.”
source.This Day (Nigeria) - January 19, 2009.