Veteran journalist and publisher, Mrs Tola Adenle has recalled the Evergreen and Loving memory of her late husband Dr Oladepo Adeoye Alao-Adenle who died on May 22, 2021.
In a post-humous anniversary message on behalf of the children, grandchildren and extended Adenle Family of Osogbo, Mrs Adenle said the family continues to feel the enormity of his death.
“It seems like yesterday that you left us and as we continue to feel the enormity of what we lost that awful Mayday: your gentle mien, the constant as-the-Northern Star man of immeasurable love of family, the ever-ready words of praise, the mischievous smile… making light of the most difficult situations with calming words.
“Countless memories of the more than 50 years of marriage filled with laughter and singing around our homes continue to remind me of the good times we shared.
“The children and grandchildren miss you tons, and me? I keep trudging on.”
Dr Adenle, the 6th child of Ataoja of Osogbo, Oba Samuel Adeleye Adisa Adenle I and his Olori, Deborah Adeyoyin Asande Adenle was born on March 13, 1942, at Osogbo in South Western Nigeria. He lived the entire years of his elementary through high school at home in Osogbo where he attended Osogbo Grammar School, graduating in 1961.
He later attended the famous Ibadan Grammar School under the legendary principal, Archdeacon Alayande, for his Higher School Certificate and had his University education at Nigeria’s premier institution, the University of Ibadan, where he majored in Geography with subsidiaries in Geology & Economics.
A love for Geology would later have him study privately for the General Certificate of Education in Physics and Chemistry (while working as a senior staff member at Ife Library) which finally enabled him to pursue, first, a Masters in Geology at the University of Florida in Gainesville, and a Doctorate in Hydrogeology at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
His professional life saw him through a stint at the University of Ife Libraries, a period that opened his path to Florida through a Graduate Assistantship in his original field of study while working at the university libraries. He would return to Nigeria as he had promised Professor H.A. Oluwasanmi, the university vice-chancellor to work for the libraries for about the same period he was granted a study leave from his library job. He returned to the States to pursue a doctorate a little over a year later.
Dr. Adenle’s career in his specialization in Water Resources was a very rewarding one as he carried out major water resources studies and projects both for the Federal Government especially in the Northern part of the country where he worked on a major study of abandoned borehole projects. His consulting firm, with offices at Ibadan, Wukari (old Gongola State) and Chenchenji (old Kaduna State) handled various jobs at State Government level.
Over in the USA to where Dr. Adenle and his family returned in 1988, he was employed as Head, Africa Program at Las Vegas, Nevada with Mifflin Associates, an environmental and hydrogeological consulting firm. He also participated in various projects, including the major Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository, representing the interest of the State of Nevada against that of the Federal Government which has long coveted to have a corner of the state as its location for spent nuclear wastes. The work included the effects that the depository would have on the underground water – among other things -for up to hundreds of years.
Dr Adenle’s contribution to water resources efforts in Nigeria included a 3-year posting to Abuja from the USA by the World Bank as “a foreign expert”(!) based at the Federal Ministry of Water Resources to help formulate a Water Policy for Nigeria. He also worked for 4 years with the EU-funded Water & Sanitation … (WSSRP) program as Osun State Coordinator based at Osogbo.
