Nigeria, March 18 -- 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 t...