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Dr Abati was a regular university lecturer in Ogun State until he joined the elite Editorial Board of the then inimitable The Guardian newspaper. That board then paraded the leading thinkers in the land, to wit: Olatunji Dare, Lade Bonuola, Femi Kusa, Okey Ikechukwu, Yemi Ogunbiyi, and others. He quickly passed as the youngest, with a groundbreaking doctoral degree from Ibadan. However, that was only in his biological age, not ideation, and perspicacity. He showed this in his double-barrel columns, one on Fridays and the other on Sundays, where he regularly captured social and political essences in stimulating inks atop power prose.
The paths of two legends crossed lately at Baze University. The first is an educationist, entrepreneur, and scholar known as Senator Datti Baba-Ahmed, and the second was a scholar, journalist, writer, and TV presenter named, Dr Reuben Abati. The two are in their fifties, although the former is midway, while the latter races to sixty in a few months. Both are notable achievers, brilliant in their endeavours and often an eleven on a scale of one to ten on their beats. Not unexpectedly, they crossed paths on a typical academic turf at the upbeat Baze University, Abuja’s first and fourteenth-anniversary lecture.
Datti Baba-Ahmed imagined Baze University when he was about age thirty-five. He had been up and about before then as a management and research consultant and a scholar after a PhD at the University of Westminster, with a foray into the legislature. Tales had it that he was hardly taken seriously by those in the audience on his plans. The reason was that private universities were then often the brainchild of more senior citizens or faith-based organisations, deeply rooted in fortune and finance and firm in institutional features. Datti Baba-Ahmed was, therefore, going to dare where the elders treaded.
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He stuck to his guns and guts, pulling through reductionist advisory barriers, conscious and unconscious nitpicking reproofs and birthed Baze University at about the age of thirty-nine. With a license at hand, a sprawling space, an echo away from the Abuja City centre, his experiment still looked jocular. However, fourteen years later, the University now sits at a commanding height of fame, bursting with enthusiastic learners and a burgeoning club of knowledge producers and sharers. Eleven convocation ceremonies after, nine faculties, and about a hundred programmes on song at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, it was just right to create a stage to stimulate thought on national issues and mark a remarkable feat.
Senator Baba-Ahmed testified: “It is an honour to celebrate fourteen years of excellence, innovation, and academic distinction at Baze University, a journey rooted in the belief that education is a powerful tool for national transformation. From humble beginnings to becoming a beacon of educational excellence, the university has consistently shaped minds, nurtured talents, and produced graduates ready to impact society positively. The presence of Dr Reuben Abati, a distinguished journalist and intellectual, highlights the critical role of education in fostering leadership and national progress.”
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Enter Reuben Abati. Dr Abati was a regular university lecturer in Ogun State until he joined the elite Editorial Board of the then inimitable The Guardian newspaper. That board then paraded the leading thinkers in the land, to wit: Olatunji Dare, Lade Bonuola, Femi Kusa, Okey Ikechukwu, Yemi Ogunbiyi, and others. He quickly passed as the youngest, with a groundbreaking doctoral degree from Ibadan. However, that was only in his biological age, not ideation, and perspicacity. He showed this in his double-barrel columns, one on Fridays and the other on Sundays, where he regularly captured social and political essences in stimulating inks atop power prose.
He was reputed as a shaper, a repository and surveyor of goings-on, with a magisterial voice on contexts. He would later become a presidential spokesman, and then a TV presenter. Every morning as a presenter, Abati has arguably upped the ante in real-time analysis, in the reflection of researched thoughts, the showcasing of balance, and the pattern of learnedness in the narration and examination of issues. His inclination to present a case, in advance of analysis, syncs with the textbook protocol of editorialising, just as the desire to give the audience their rightful window, the outlet to make up their minds, and form their opinion, from a presenter’s discussion. Channels TV Dr John Momoh, a true Chevening Scholar, has been an apostle of the transmission genre. It is expositional, rather than impositional, inclusive rather than exclusive, in addition to liberalising ratiocination.
With his wife, the ravishingly beautiful, Mrs Kikelomo Atanda Owo-Abati also in the audience, Abati mounted the podium on the back of his impressive pedigree, speaking on the seminal topic of “Leadership in a Disruptive Era: Ethics, Accountability, and the Future of Governance in Nigeria.” His intervention came after the critical opening of the ceremony by the university vice-chancellor, renowned educationist, former permanent secretary in multiple federal ministries, and professor of Consumer Science, Ms Jamila Shu’ara.
Professor Shu’ara paid homage to those who powered the university dream prior, concluding with worthy regard to the ultimate visioner, Senator Baba-Ahmed. As she put it, “In just 14 years, Baze University has emerged as a beacon of academic excellence and innovation under the visionary leadership of its founder, Senator Datti Baba-Ahmed. From its humble beginnings, the university has witnessed remarkable growth, expanding into nine dynamic faculties that offer a wide array of cutting-edge programmes tailored to meet the evolving demands of the global landscape.”
She added, “This strategic expansion underscores a steadfast commitment to nurturing intellectual rigour, fostering creativity, and producing globally competitive graduates. Establishing a world-class, standard hospital further exemplifies this transformative vision, positioning Baze University as a hub for academic pursuit and a centre of medical excellence and community service. The university’s trajectory is a witness to Senator Baba-Ahmed’s dedication to advancing higher education in Nigeria, creating an institution that continues to set new benchmarks in quality, innovation, and societal impact.”
Dr Abati thereafter began by saluting Baba-Ahmed, whose contribution can be underscored with regards to “how he has dedicated himself to the task of service by giving back to his own country and helping in the education industry to build the same country that nurtured him, by devoting time and resources to the empowerment of the younger generation through knowledge and skills. I salute also the diligence and commitment of all the men and women, who in various ways have joined this enterprise of building young persons into better men and women, providing an enabling environment for the flowering of the human spirit and the ideal of the university.”
He then pontificated with philosophic confidence: “The entire trajectory of human survival is on the production of knowledge, epistemology and adaptability, and as man learns anew, he strengthens his capacity to live. The significant burden that man faces is that the more he learns, the more he sees that he still needs to know. In the endless search for knowledge, he expands his horizons. Man, inexorably, realises that he is not the wonderful creature that he thinks he is, but a gnat, a small part of the Cosmos, a dot in God’s design, a work in motion, who needs to adapt and innovate, reinvent himself, to remain alive and relevant in the larger canvas of things. We keep learning to live, and the university, as a place of learning, stands at a critical pathway in this process.”
Zeroing in on Nigeria, the writer stressed that Nigeria’s governance challenges demand urgent and comprehensive reforms from all sectors of society. “Transformative leadership, institutional strengthening, and ethical decision-making are crucial for the nation’s stability and prosperity. Policymakers must prioritise evidence-based decisions, long-term goals, and public participation, while political leaders should embody integrity and place national interests first. Civil servants must uphold professionalism, and citizens must actively hold leaders accountable. Ethical leadership is critical to addressing the nation’s socio-economic issues, including poverty and unemployment, and requires transparency and responsibility.”
His summary: “Reforms should include judicial independence, enhanced anti-corruption efforts, and digital innovations like e-governance to improve service delivery. Citizen engagement should be encouraged primarily through media, civil society, and academia. Leadership recruitment must prioritise merit, proven ability, and service over corruption and entitlement. Only through a collective effort can Nigeria establish a governance system that is transparent, inclusive, and responsive to its people’s needs. The future of Nigeria’s governance depends on committed reform now.”
No doubt some excellent submission from Abati, who graduated as the best overall student of his set at the University of Calabar, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, and he furthered his education by obtaining a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from the Lagos State University (LASU) and a Master of Arts (MA) from the University of Ibadan. He also earned a Master’s in International Law and Diplomacy (MILD) from the University of Lagos, after his Doctorate (PhD) from the University of Ibadan. Abati is a Fellow of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (FNGE) and the Nigerian Institute of Management (FNIM), with an Honorary Fellowship from the Nigeria Academy of Letters. He was Hubert H Humphrey Fellow in Journalism, a prestigious programme that further honed his expertise in the field. His appearance at Baze was one icing, with more to come. For him, Senator Datti Baba-Ahmed, and Baze University, it was a typical case of morning yet on the day of increase.
Abiodun Adeniyi is a professor of Communication and registrar, Baze University.
