Buhari, Atiku Mourn Ex-Super Perm Sec, Ahmed Joda

President Muhammadu Buhari has paid tribute to a former civil servant, elder statesman and patriot, Ahmed Joda, who died after a prolonged illness in his hometown, Yola, Adamawa.

Joda was the last surviving member of Governor Hassan Usman’s Northern Nigeria cabinet.

In a condolence message released by his spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu, in Abuja on Friday, President Buhari highlighted late Joda’s “monumental contributions to Nigeria’s unity and progress,” from the birth of the nation until his death.

According to the president, Joda’s lofty ideals will continue to motivate millions across the nation.

“We will not forget his sacrifices,” he added.

He also noted that the late “Super Permanent Secretary” as Joda and some of his colleagues were referred to in the 70s, “distinguished himself as a remarkable scholar, journalist, intellectual, public servant and farmer.’’

President Buhari called Joda “a hero for all Nigerians” who, even in death, “will continue to inspire every generation to move forward with love, brotherhood and harmony.”

He prayed to Allah to accept his good deeds and grant fortitude to those he left behind in his family, Adamawa Emirate Council and entire people of the state, to bear the loss.

Also, the former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, described Joda’s death as the “fall of an iroko”.

Abubakar in a statement he signed in Abuja on Friday described Joda as a great Nigerian and a member of the first generation of Adamawa indigenes who made an immense contribution to the growth of the state and the country.

“Today, our beautiful Adamawa State has lost a colossus. Indeed, an iroko tree has fallen in Nigeria, particularly Northern Nigeria. The news of the death of Joda comes with some kind of a jolt even though he lived to a prime old age. He belonged to the first generation of Adamawa indigenes who put our state and the North in the map of modern Nigeria,” the former VP stated.

He added, “His stature as an accomplished administrator was towering and colourful. He was a shining star in the galaxy of Nigeria’s public servants. Joda, with a few of his peers, wrote the rule book of Nigeria’s civil service and his footprints will remain indelible.

Abubakar prayed that the Almighty Allah accepts his soul and provides his family with the fortitude to bear the loss.

Joda headed President Muhammadu Buhari’s transition committee in 2015.

He was a journalist who later became a civil servant and was one of the so-called super federal permanent secretaries under the military government of Gen. Yakubu Gowon.

From Adamawa State, he attended Yola Elementary School and Yola Middle School before proceeding to Barewa College, Zaria from 1945 to 1948.

He worked briefly at Moor Plantation in Ibadan, and later as an agricultural officer in Yola before entering the field of journalism at Gaskiya Corporation in Zaria.

He then attended Pitmans College, London from 1954 to 1956. On his return, he became a correspondent at the Nigerian Broadcasting Service from 1956 to 1960.

He then joined the Northern regional government as a Chief Information Officer and then later Permanent Secretary from 1962 to 1967.

In 1967, following the outbreak of the Nigerian Civil War, he was seconded to the Federal Civil Service as a Permanent Secretary serving in the federal ministries of Information, Education and Industries, where he retired in 1978.

He retired into private business during the Second Nigerian Republic, where he served as chairman and board member of various companies including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Nigerian Communications Commission, Pastoral Resolve, SCOA, Nigeria, Chagoury Group, Flour Mills of Nigeria, and the Nigerian LNG.

He was also a member of the 1988 Constituent Assembly which planned the constitutional transition of the Third Nigerian Republic.

In 1999, he was appointed the head of the committee to advise the Presidency on Poverty Alleviation and in 2015, headed the Muhammadu Buhari Presidential Transition Committee.

Joda died at the Federal Medical Centre, Yola, Friday afternoon at the age of 91.