A former permanent secretary and an elder statesman, Ahmed Joda, passed away at the age of 91 at the Federal Medical Center, Yola following a brief illness on Friday.
Here are 10 things you probably did not know about the recently deceased elder statesman:
- Joda was the Chairman of the 18-member transition committee nominated by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to receive the handover notes from the Goodluck Jonathan-led administration in 2015.
- He began his career as a journalist with the then Northern Broadcasting Corporation in Kaduna State.
- Born in Girei Local Government Area of Adamawa State, Joda attended Yola Elementary and Middle schools before proceeding to Barewa College. In the 1950s, he attended Pitman College, London and gained practical experience in journalism while staying in Britain.
- After completing his secondary education in 1948, Ahmed Joda was admitted to Moor Plantation, Ibadan.
- He worked briefly at an agricultural centre in Yola before entering the field of journalism at Gaskiya Corporation, Zaria.
- He later worked for the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) serving as the editor of NBC Kaduna.
- He joined the Northern Nigeria civil service as Chief Information Officer
- Joda was later appointed as the permanent secretary in the regional Ministry of Information.
- In 1967, he became a Federal Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information.
- According to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, Joda saved the unity of Nigeria shortly after the 1966 coup d’état when others insisted that Nigeria should collapse.
