INTRODUCTION

I stand before you today with gratitude to my Creator for this great opportunity which I am not taking for granted. It's a great privilege to deliver this valedictory lecture in honour of Professor Gabriel Oladapo Adeyemi who is retiring from the services of our great Citadel of Learning and Numero Uno. I am here with immense appreciation as 'the Chosen one' on this very special day which marks the 70th Birthday of a 'Living Ancestor, Teacher, Father, Legend, Pace Setter, and Trail blazer.

The first and only valedictory lecture in the Department of Geology to date was delivered by Late Prof. Thompson Adeyemi Badejoko (1945 to 2024) titled 'Solid Mineral Development: Solid Progress or Solid Waste' when he retired in 2005. May I crave your indulgence to request a minute silence in honour of Baba Badejoko, a teacher, astute scholar, fine gentleman, and quondam Head of the Department of Geology who we lost to the cold hands of death on Saturday 17 August 2024, at the age of 79 (May God console all those he left behind). I am however delighted to be delivering the first valedictory lecture in the history of the Department of Geology of this great citadel of learning to be delivered by a colleague Professor in honour of another colleague from the same Department.
Moreover, it's the first valedictory lecture to be delivered by a former student in honour of his Undergraduate Teacher, M.Sc. Project, and Doctoral Thesis Supervisor (Combined Extraordinary Tutelage) in the Department of Geology. You will therefore agree with me (in Professor Adeyemi's Voice) that today is not just coincidental but divine.