The National Assembly has come to be known as one of the strongest pillars of our democracy. This arm of government’s role became much more appreciated when a President took ill and constitutional crisis loomed. The senate stepped in and saved the country’s democratic process.
Nigerians expressed huge appreciation but to the legislators alone. Little was mentioned of supporting staff who play indispensable roles in the National Assembly to keep the democratic wheels turning.
The whole lot falls on the Clerk of the National Assembly (CNA) who is charged with providing effective bureaucracy for the lawmakers.
Since 1999, the assembly has had various Clerks which rolled over to the current Clerk, Alhaji Salisu Abubakar Maikasuwa. Like the Senate President and other Principal Officers, Maikasuwa has played a very crucial role in stabilizing and even repositioning the out-going seventh National Assembly. It has even been argued that for obvious reasons and for being a civil servant, Salisu and his team were indeed the unseen hand or force that made it possible for the
lawmakers to successfully carryout their assignments properly and scored a high marks in discharging their responsibilities.
The CNA has used his wide administrative experience and exposure as well as contacts to provide a conducive environment for the lawmakers to do their work very well. Salisu’s administrative ingenuity coupled with his style of operations has succeeded in sorting out many knotty issues faced in the assembly in the past four years.
A critical look at the score card of this silent achiever shows the CNA’s efforts at boosting the morale of workers through improved welfare packages, transportation and housing facilities, enthroning the culture of transparency, due process and the rule of law in the assembly’s management, apart from insisting on merit and accountability as well as providing conducive atmosphere for workers to do the best.
As narrated by an insider recently, the proactive stance of the Maikasuwa’s team since it came on board has brought him closer it to both staff, the lawmakers as well as their leaders to an extent that service delivery and others are now smoothly done in a manner that compares to what obtains in developed democracies. It must be noted here that one of the issues which got prominent attention of Salisu has to do with the welfare of workers as recently admitted by most of the workers. The Maikasuwa’s-led team did not spare any minute in ensuring that justice and fair play prevailed in this issue. The way and manner workers issue were given priority attention in the schemes of things had gladden people’s heart.
It is not surprising that most of the projects initiated by the Maikasuwa team like transportation for workers and office furniture etc, have been successfully accomplished due to the support
and interest shown by the Senate President, Senator David Mark and his Principal Officers. Some of these projects also include office extensions, ICT appliances, and some mouth-watering incentives for the workers. The National assembly Staff housing project has also left the
drawing board and is being pursued apart from refresher course organized for the training and re-training of workers. His open-door policy, transparency, rule of law, merit and compliance with due process has put him as an innovative CNA in the history of the assembly.
The reasons for the success so far recorded by the incumbent CNA are not far-fetched. To begin with, he is a tested administrator having served meticulously in various positions of responsibility in the country’s bureaucracy. He came in with a vast experience having which
he garnered in the sensitive offices he held before he transferred his services to the NASS.
Another advantage the CNA has is the fact that he has worked closely with some of his predecessors directly in their offices. Salisu is also a patient leader or is it silent achiever who believes in striking when the iron hot in order to achieve desired objective. But more than any other issue, Salisu has guts to do what many of his predecessors could not attempt to do while in office.
Outside the National Assembly, Maikasuwa is a non-political and a completely detribalized leader. Maikasuwa’s current grassroots appeal stemmed from the humanitarian services he has been rendering to the people where orphans, youths, widows and many other groups of people
are assisted giving them hope and reason to live. His friends cut across political divides and from all tribes. [myad]
