IN PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE

 Baze University appoints Abiodun Adeniyi as Vice Chancellor, writes PAUL A. OBI

“Nothing contributes so much to tranquilise the mind as a steady purpose – a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye.”

–          Mary W. Shelley, English Novelist

As the first private university in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Baze University has a unique feature within the realm of tertiary education in Nigeria. Its strict adherence to academic calendar, excellence and quality control position the university as an RI research institution capable of leading the charge in global scholarship. Its strategic location and ability to provide cognate knowledge on education, research and classroom-industry experience sets the university apart among other equals. More so, the entrenchment of astute corporate governance in the day-to-day running of the university highlights the most important values modern tertiary institutions seek to adapt. However, Baze University’s drive to head-hunting the best brains; not just intellectual wizardly, but academics who combine classroom knowledge and practical industry experience distinguished the university from among several others.

For the Chancellor and Founder of Baze University, Sen. Datti Baba-Ahmed, the ideals of an ivory tower are to constantly bridge existing societal gaps, both in innovation and scaling up human capital development. In that light, the basic antidote for universities in remedying today’s enormous global challenges lies squarely in assembling the best minds and reliable experts in the management of educational institutions. It is on this benchmark and threshold that recruitment in Baze University is wholly centred. According to Baba-Ahmed, to ensure global standards and quality control, “I don’t get to know staff who are recruited in the university,” he told national television during an interview late last year. Thus, the idea of embracing competence and excellence in the composition of the university’s human resources is fundamental to the sustained growth and success recorded so far for more than a decade now, and since inception.

Consequently, the announcement by the Board of Directors and Management of the institution appointing Abiodun Adeniyi as the substantive Vice Chancellor of Baze University, Abuja recently received applause across the broad spectrum of Nigerian larger society. In emphasizing the imperative of the elevation of Adeniyi as the Vice Chancellor, and the appointment of Ahmad Mahmoud Lawi as the Registrar, the university management contended that “the appointments underscore the university’s commitment to continuity, merit-based leadership, and sustained institutional growth.” These values over the last 15 years have become the cornerstone of Baze University, and the touchstone of its rise to global acclaim. Critically, there can be no better definitive parameters in head-hunting talents like Adeniyi and Lawi than the normative values of the university that encapsulate continuity, meritocracy and institutional knowledge.

For Adeniyi, the appointment resonates in many ways across different segments of the Nigerian society, taking cognizance of his multi-disciplinary engagements. He comes to the job with bureaucratic, administrative and intellectual skills and tools necessary to navigate the running of a university. As a public intellectual, journalist, civil society advocate, consultant, scholar and teacher, Adeniyi not only embodies contemporary scholarship acumen, but he is also an amalgam of social engineering required for today’s world. His combined years of journalism practice, civil society, consultancy and teaching are all testable track records that would help shape Baze University.  

 Adeniyi’s adventure to the world began when he graduated from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria in the early 1990s, with a degree in Sociology. Adeniyi would kick-start his professional calling when he joined Today Newspaper, a Kaduna based newspaper to horn his journalistic skills. He would later join The Guardian Newspaper, one of Nigeria’s flagships of journalism as a political reporter covering several news beats both in Lagos and Abuja, the nation’s capital. Despite being engrossed with the ever-powerful influence of being a journalist, Adeniyi’s instincts and craving for intellectual commitment will lead him to the United Kingdom for his postgraduate studies. Adeniyi won the prestigious Chevening Scholarship to study International Communication at the University of Leeds. He would further pursue doctoral studies, finally earning a PhD in Communication. After his return to Nigeria in the early 2000s, Adeniyi would pick up the job of communication consultancy, where his clientele of organizations included World Bank, ECOWAS, Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), European Union (EU), USAID, DFID, among other multilateral organizations.

Across the social spectrum and public policy, Adeniyi has been a strategic stakeholder setting benchmarks, shaping citizen-centric policies and mitigation of institutional challenges and bottlenecks.  His foothold revolves around providing the road map for bridging gaps that often impede our social world and public policy succinctly.  In the same vein, Prof Adeniyi was also instrumental in shaping strategic communication of the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs’ disasters and risk management unit for optimal performance. In addition, he contributed in no small measure to remodeling the strategic communication of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in driving home how national data on socio-economic lives is communicated across a multi-ethnic society like Nigeria. In rebranding the country, Adeniyi as the Deputy Chairman of the National Values Charter, was a key player in the creation of the National Values Charter where national values became the centrepiece of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s National Orientation Agency (NOA) national values project. The Professor of Communication’s role was also part of the retooling of the NOA’s national values which was later remodelled as statutes between the state and citizens, also known as 7 for 7.

 Adeniyi’s journey to the classroom and lecturing began in 2013, when joined the services of Baze University as a Senior Lecturer. After some years, he would later be appointed the Head, Department of Mass Communication. In 2021, he was appointed a full professor, and later elevated to the post of Deputy Dean, and subsequently, Dean of the Post Graduate School. In January, 2025. Adeniyi would be made Registrar of Baze University, combining academics and administrative roles in which his many years of experience connect with such responsibilities. In academic research, Adeniyi has championed many intellectual projects, leading to several poignant publications and epistemic calibration within the cross-disciplinary fields of media, communication studies, migration, diasporic communication, identity and belonging, cultural studies and epistemology. Adeniyi boasts of more than 40 publications in international peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes. In 2025, he co-edited the volume, Media and the National Security Question: Communicating (In) Security in Nigeria, West Africa and the Sahel published by Palgrave Macmillan.  Adeniyi’s new book, New Hidden Narratives of African Migration: Exploring Media and the Contestation of Place (Palgrave Macmillan, 2026) which coincided with his diamond jubilee underpinned the stereotypical media narratives in the contestation of place and identity.

 With his appointment as the fourth substantive Vice Chancellor of the university, Adeniyi, working with other management officials, including the Deputy Vice Chancellors, Prof Osita Agbu, his experience is now call to action. The purpose of a global institution with all the requisite abilities to spearhead social change, upheld as the bastion of excellence by Baze University, is now the most tenable agenda for Adeniyi and the management team. As Mary J Shelly posited in the opening quote, the tranquility of Adeniyi’s mind, his intellectual lens and his cognate years of experience thrust upon him must now bear witness to the huge expectations for growth. Such a legacy must be guarded jealously and religiously.

Obi is a lecturer, journalist, researcher and teaches journalism and political communication at Baze University, Abuja