By Idowu Olayinka
*Photo: Professor Emeritus Maroof Adenrele Omar Rahaman*
There are two main seasons in the tropics, namely the dry season and the wet season. However, Nigerian Geoscientists have in the recent past come up with a third season christened The Season of Rahaman in order to celebrate one of their own, Professor Emeritus Maroof Adenrele Omar (MAO) Rahaman during the months of April and May of each year. This year’s edition is tagged ‘Season of Rahaman 5.0’ and it started at a high profile event in Abuja sponsored by the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), the Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society (NMGS) of which Rahaman is a Fellow and Past President, and the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE). The second leg of the Season of Rahaman 5.0 held at Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife on 28th April 2026. The third and final leg will take place at the OAU Mosque as the high point of Rahaman at 80 celebration.
Professor Maroof Adenrele Omar Rahaman (MAO Rahaman) was born 6th May 1946 in Ondo. He attended King’s College Lagos from 1958 till 1964. There he distinguished himself academically, emerging as the best Fifth Form Student in 1962 and the best Chemistry student in the Higher School Certificate class of 1963 to 1964, with principal passes in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry. He was admitted to the University of Ibadan in 1965 and graduated with a BSc (Honours) degree in Geology, Second Class, Upper Division, as the best student in his class. His early encounter with geological fieldwork occurred during undergraduate excursions to Ghana under Professor Kelvin Burke and subsequent field studies in the Iseyin area, experiences that decisively shaped his professional trajectory in Geology.
Following a brief stint at The Geological Survey Division of the Federal Ministry of Mines and Power, Professor Rahaman returned to the University of Ibadan to pursue postgraduate studies. He joined the academic staff of the Department of Geology as Assistant Lecturer in 1971. He earned his PhD in Geology in March 1973. He was soon to move to the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) Ile-Ife in December 1974 as Lecturer II. He rose rapidly through the ranks and was elevated to the rank of Professor of Geology in 1985 at age 39.
Our boss, Professor Rahaman, is a builder of men and institutions, with an unbeatable record of service to our profession in particular and humanity in general. He served as President NMGS from 2001 to 2003; he was Regional Editor (West Africa) of the Journal of African Earth Sciences, and coordinated the Petroleum Technology Development Fund Aptitude examinations for overseas Scholarships for nine years. He has attracted substantial industry and government support to Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, a fact that was underscored by the Vice-Chancellor Professor A S Bamire, at an event organised for Professor Rahaman on Tuesday 28th April 2026.
A recipient of the NMGS/Shell Plaque, Honorary Member of NAPE and NAPE/CGG Veritas Distinguished Education and Mentorship Award. He was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the University of Ibadan in 2018. Moreover, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Department of Geoogy at its homecoming event in march 2026. It was a token of appreciating one to whom honour is due.
He endowed in perpetuity a Prize for the Best Graduating Student in Petrology at the Department of Geology University of Ibadan in the early 1990s. Ten years ago, he built an ultra-modern Mini-Conference Room to the same Department as part of activities marking his 70th birthday.
Rahaman is a notable and celebrated Nigerian geologist known for his work on Precambrian geology and the Basement Complex of Nigeria.
Key Academic Contributions
1. Archaean Age Dating of Nigerian Basement: His 1988 work provided U–Pb zircon ages of ∼2.6 Ga for grey gneisses in SW Nigeria, constraining an *Archaean age* for part of the Nigerian Basement Complex. This was important for understanding the age and evolution of West African crust.
2. Grey Gneiss Complex Studies: Documented anatexis, magmatic veins, and Pan-African intrusions in the Ife University campus area, helping map the tectonic history of the Nigerian basement.
3. Basement Complex Mapping: Contributed to knowledge of Precambrian lithologies — grey gneisses, pink orthogneisses, micaschists, quartzites — and their structural relationships in SW Nigeria. 9ce6
Research Significance
1. Tectonic Evolution: His geochronology work helped establish that parts of Nigeria’s basement are Archaean (∼2.6 billion years old), not just Proterozoic. This feeds into correlations with other West African cratons.
2. Pan-African Orogeny: Identified undeformed syn-anatectic granitoid/diorite veins that are Pan-African intrusives, clarifying multiple thermal events in the basement.
3. Reference work: “Rahaman (1988)” is cited in geological literature on Nigeria’s Precambrian for age constraints.
He’s part of the generation of Nigerian geologists who established the age framework for the Basement Complex, which underpins mineral exploration, groundwater studies, and engineering geology in Nigeria today.
We are ever so proud of you, our former President of the Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society (NMGS), a worthy Ibadan Alumnus. He is unarguably one of the most consistently successful fund raisers for the NMGS as he uses his wide contacts with industry to the benefit of our professional society. We love you so much, Sir, and cannot thank you enough.We wish you everlasting bliss in the land of the living. Happy 80th Sir.