By
Saifullahi Dahiru Usman
I think it is compulsory upon me at this very juncture to quickly write this short tribute, in honour of this great hero and gentleman, in the person of Prof. Hafizu Miko Yakasai who returned to his Creator last night. Prof. was among the very rare personalities I knew with high level of unquestionable characters among the lecturers of Bayero University, Kano. Sincerely speaking, that's why when I was a student, Prof. Hafizu was one of my best, dearest and most beloved lecturers throughout my university education.
In terms of human relations,
Prof. Hafizu was a true symbol of dignity, humanity, humility, integrity;
simplicity and sincerity. He was exceptionally gentle, whose gentility became a
clear testimony of his highest level of morality. For example, when he was
discussing with his junior colleagues or subordinates, you would hardly
distinguish between him and them due to his humbleness. In his unique
relationship style, there was nothing like senior-junior colleague
relationship. He treated each and everyone of the staff member as equals or
friends.
In terms of academic research,
Prof. Hafizu wrote and published many academic articles (papers) and presented
many of them at different conferences nationally and internationally. However,
most of his research papers were published in highly reputable and peer
reviewed journals within and outside this country. Moreover, he even
singlehandedly authored some books and book chapters like his recent book
"Reduplication in Hausa" among others. He was a member of many
editorial boards where he edited several journals of Bayero University, Kano
and Warsaw University, Poland.
In terms of teaching and
learning, Prof. had entirely dedicated his lifetime in teaching, training and
nurturing the young ones, especially
those students he understood that, they passionately aspire to become academics
in their life. He taught many courses like, Survey of General Linguistics,
Semantics, Morphology, Morpho-semantics, History oof Linguistic Thoughts,
Translation to mention but few. His teaching style was full of mastery and
versatility as a result of his vast experience. This among many other things,
were the reasons why he was highly cherished and respected by his colleagues
and disciples.
In terms of leadership and
mentorship at both academic and administrative levels, I can boldly testify
that, late Prof. Hafizu was an exemplary leader, whose leadership style was
highly cherished and fascinated by almost all and sundry. This was due to the
encompassing nature of his leadership style. On the other hand, with regard to
his mentorship, Prof. had supervised countless B.A Degree Projects, many M.A
Dissertations and several Ph.D Thesis to the extent that many of the students
he taught are now Professors, Associate Professors and Doctors. Furthermore,
some additional indisputable qualities of him were: his gentleness, kindness
and selflessness in leadership and mentorship.
In terms of profession and
professionalism, Prof. Hafizu had made remarkable achievements for he had
immensely contributed in many areas, particularly in the area of Hausa studies
as well as in the area of language, linguistics and translation studies. But
his areas o keen interest were Semantics, Morphology, Morph-semantics among
others. Surely, his voluminous works will be continuously consulted and used by
subsequent researchers of language, linguistics and translation studies. Before
his demise, Prof. made tremendous accomplishments and achievements, among which
were, reaching the peak of his profession that's the rank of professorship in
our prestigious Bayero University, Kano. He was one time the Head of the
Department of Nigerian Languages, the Dean, Faculty of Arts and Islamic Studies
and a couple of weeks, he was appointed as the Provost of the newly established
College of Humanities, Bayero University, Kano.
We will truly miss Prof. Hafizu
and his exalted standard of characters, such as, patience, perseverance,
sacrifice and other virtuous attitudes. But his legacies will be remembered
forever. Verily, the eyes wept, the heart saddened but we will not utter anything
except what pleases our Lord. May Allah the Most Merciful have mercy on the
gentle soul of Prof. Hafizu Miko Yakasai and take care of his family. Amin
0 Comments