Nigeria, Nov. 24 -- If Nigeria, our country, were to have been a place where ideas rule - as they do in developed countries and many emerging markets - men like Professor Ibrahim Agboola Gambari (CFR) would be kings and not only princes, as he happens to be by bloodline. Nevertheless, Nigeria should be grateful to Gambari, as he turns 80, for his proud, committed and impactful service to our country and the world, rather than living on a sense of entitlement as a member of the traditional ruling family of the emirate of Ilorin in North-Central Nigeria.

Educated at King's College, Lagos, the prestigious London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), where he studied Economics for his first degree, and the Ivy League Columbia Univ...