Alhaji Dr. Salisu Abubakar Maikasuwa was the immediate past Clerk of the National Assembly, who I happened to interact with for 27 years, including the years he got to the topmost position at the legislative level. As a matter of fact, I knew him since 1998 when I relocated from New Nigerian Newspaper (NNN) Kaduna to the then MFCT/FCDA in Abuja
From what I know of him, he loves his job as a career administrator and an experienced career civil servant. In other words, Maikasuwa has a unique way of tackling issues that used to come up at any given time.
As an experienced civil servant, he used to handle issues in a most remarkable way that satisfies his seniors, his subordinates and even those opposed to him in ideology and methodology.
After he retired I have the opportunity and privilege of working and relating very close with him, taking instructions directly from him as one of his Media advisers. Since then, I have come to realize that the former CNA is a very straight forward and humble individual who always want to do his best in whatever situation he found himself. He is also an optimist who believes in being meticulous in whatever he does as destined by God.
Though an attempt was made by a cabal to frustrate him at a certain stage of his career, Maikasuwa fought the battle with grit and subsequently reached to the topmost of his career as a CNA which is equivalent to the position of a federal permanent secretary.He has also held sensitive positions of responsibilities in the presidency and the FCDA after his NYSC in Kano which brought him recognition and several awards especially due to his sincerity of purpose and dedication to duties . He doesn’t have failure in his dictionary.
Maikasuwa who is now a Doctorate Degree holder and one of the senior lecturers at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, is also a religious individual and loyal to a fault.
He likes people and assists them as much as he can. He loves to help the less privilege persons. He has a special relationship with the youth who are his special project. They believe in him and he is very fond of them. They trust each other. They are drawn to him due to his patriotism and passion for impacting positively on people’s quality of lives.
He is a bridge builder and a detribalized leader. It was precisely because of these and other issues that the youth in their thousands from different tribal and religious background like the Mada, Gwandara, Fulani, Hausa, Kamberi and Gade have rallied around him as their leader in the build up to the general elections which ended recently in the country. The youth from all over Nasarawa state trust him just like he trust them in a spirit of give and take. They are mutually drawn to each other.
Dr. Maikasuwa is an embodiment of patience just as he is also an epitome of wisdom and integrity. Not once did I see him get angry in my many years of acquaintance with him. And he does not bear grudge against people. If he is not happy with you or your actions he will tell you straight to your face. He will never allow the day to end with any bitterness in his heart. Though at most times smiling he is a disciplined individual who suffer no fools gladly.
He is a very simple person who believes in hard work and dedication to whatever a person is engaged in doing honourably to improve himself or the entire community. It is through great determination and guts that he climbed to the highest pedestal in his career. He is an experienced civil servant who is always being guided by honesty of purpose and transparency in his interactions with the public. It these attitudes more than anything else that have endured him to his people and even to his political bosses who have commended him publically on many occasions.
Dr. Maikasuwa’s relationship with the youths did not come as a surprise to many people who are close to him because of his antecedent and various involvements in the academic activities of the Nasarawa state university and his proximity to student’s affairs generally over the years. For a long time now, Maikasuwa had been involved in doing one thing or the other, to students which has endeared him to them and which subsequently earned for him not less than fifteen awards from the University alone in the past few years, out of the 63 awards so far conferred on him by various groups within the past few years.
The enduring relationship between the two stemmed from the fact that Maikasuwa believes in helping his people. He does many things for the benefit of the people without waiting for government’s action once a worthy project has been identified in his community. He supports many worthy projects that comes his way and he has given out scholarships to many students quietly apart from engaging in many other communal activities towards nation building.
A detribalized and apolitical individual, Dr. Maikasuwa has a long history of relationship with the youths and the students which started as far back as the 1980s.Dr. Maikasuwa has his ways with the youths and he is easily connected to them. This writer believes that he enjoys their company as the youths also rally around him. They like to listen to his advises and admonitions not to allow themselves to be misused and to be good citizens usually contained in the lectures he often delivers whenever they invite him. This explains why the youths always like to interact with him and confer on him various awards. No wonder, he has a deeply rooted rapport and understanding with the youths.
Beyond his commitment to the upliftment of the youth generally at all times the former CNA is passionate about improving the status of the less privilege people around him. He as a soft spot for these type of people in the society. Maikasuwa has an unwritten law and an unspoken bond and a way with youth as demonstrated at many events held at Lafia, Nasarawa, Akwanga and many other places in the past few years. Humility and loyalty are part of his greatest attributes which have all endeared him to the people.
Maikasuwa believes that Leadership is a trust. He is a unique leader and handles assignments diligently. He doesn’t believe in failures. He also believes in destiny. He believes in allowing people to rise to the highest position by delegating appropriate responsibilities to them accordingly and also insist in implementing capacity building programmes for those working with him. He detest God-fatherism and the way they usually mislead the youth.
Biu wrote this from Kuje, Abuja.
