By Aminu Darma
People achieve greatness by resoluteness and discipline to live and act their beliefs. Such is the story of Alhaji Malik Anas, the resolute newly appointed Accountant General of Katsina State. Anas story is one that will continue to resonate in Katsina’s hall of fame and success. Anas is synonymous with Katsina State Ministry of Finance where his professional quality is probably second to none.
It came as a surprise only to very few that His Excellency, the Governor Aminu Bello Masari, after a long search, settled on Alh. Malik Anas among many candidates vying to fill the vacant post created by the retirement of the immediate past Accountant General, Alhaji Kabir Dankaura. No doubt, Masari’s prolonged search was a deliberate gambit to identify and appoint the most suitable person for perhaps, the most sensitive office in the state’s administrative structure after that of the Governor, his Deputy and the SGS. The just like the search, the sensitivity of the office of the Accountant General cannot be overemphasized.
Being the custodian of the state treasury, the burden of the Accountant General’s office is such that requires unquestionable professionalism, resilience, commitment and impeccability of character as those Governor Masari, in a trademark search for perfection, prolonged his search for a new Accountant General looking for and which he which ended with the “round peg in a round hole” appointment of Malik Anas.
Malik Anas is a professional Accountant and a career civil servant with vast experience in Tresury Management. If one person could be said to have seen it all in the history of Katsina State Ministry of Finance, no doubt its Anas. His sojourn in the Finance Ministry has earned him a versatility that, but for the need to fulfill civil service regulations, he could easily manage Finance Ministry alone or with just little support. He is among the few officers in the service that one could describe as “Technical persons” without fear of contradiction. Indeed, Governor Masari has put the finances of Katsina State in a very safe and competent custody.
Those close to Anas could attest he is a man always in pursuit of excellence. A stickler for perfection who lives, breathes and appreciates hard work. For a man who was an all-rounder in his school days, excelling not only in academics but in social and sporting activities, Anas’ meticulous rise to the pinnacle of his career doesn’t come as a surprise. To most who know him, and that’s saying a lot because he’s a household name thanks to his kindness and generosity, it’s not a matter of “if” but “when”. His pursuit for excellence, as well, his zero tolerance for failure paved way for his ascension to the prestigious office of the Accountant General long before this round of search even begin.
Very cerebral and scholarly, Malik Anas has always likes data, statistics, empirical evidence, phased or modular implementation — anything to do with figures that horrifies his peers was (and still remain) Anas hobbies. Despite his intellectual agility, he is a team worker who encourages talent development by experiment. Knowing and having the solution to a problem in his kitty will not stop Anas joining his staff to debate solutions he solved numerously just to give them a chance of scoring a credit that could boost their morale and enhance their productivity and self-respect. Actually it’s a rule for his staff to go to him always with an alternative solution of accomplishing a task.
To say the least, the office of the Accountant General is set to witness some radical changes that would infuse all new professionalism and dedication to improve service delivery. A multiple Masters degree holder and a Fellow of Association of National Accountants of Nigeria, Alhaji Malik Anas is indeed an excellent choice for the enormous task domiciled in the office of the Katsina State Accountant General.
This is wishing him Allah’s guidance, protection and wisdom as he begins his tenure.
