By
Anas Sani Anka
I received the sudden death of late Alh Ishaqa Muhammad Zurmi with deep sense of sorrow and shock.
Very humble and articulated gentleman ‘Zurmi’ as he is called by his contemporaries since in the former Sokoto state, is one of the few resourceful retired public servants whose contributions and wealth of experiences are most needed by states like Zamfara.
He was one, among the few, that understood the bureaucracy of public service and always advocated for training and retraining of civil servants to work in conformity with standard best practice.
Based on my brief knowledge about him, he started his civil service carrier as the clerk and rose through the cadre to become Director in various departments, Accountant General and later Permanent Secretary and Commissioner for Finance.
It was on record that there was no position at the level of finance ministry that Zurmi did not hold except Auditor General of the state.
I came closely with late Ishaqa Muhammad Zurmi sometimes around 2020 when one of the elder statesmen in Zamfara Alh Ahmad Zabarma asked me to contact him through former head of service Kabiru Gayari for a discussion on how to reform the state civil service.
Every day I had an interaction with late Ishaqa Zurmi I see myself as ignorant of bureaucracy in civil service.
He is modest, clear, and apt when it comes to procedure and how it shall be applied in the civil service.
I followed thousands of other people to express my condolences to the family of late Ishaqa Muhammad Zurmi for we have really lost an icon and a bureaucratic pillar.
We prayed for God almighty to grant him eternal rest and give his family the fortitude to bear the shock.
We will miss you forever.
