A former permanent secretary and an elder statesman, Ahmed Joda, is dead.

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.

Joda, who began his career as a journalist with the then Northern Broadcasting Corporation in Kaduna, died at the age of 91 at the Federal Medical Center, Yola following a brief illness on Friday.

Mohammed Baba, a long time associate of Joda confirmed the death to our correspondent.

“As I’m talking to you, the elder statesman has already been taken to the family cemetery for burial,” a family source said.

Ahmed Joda was born in Girei local government area of Adamawa State 91 years ago.

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He 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 and then joined the Northern Nigeria civil service as Chief Information Officer and later permanent secretary in the regional Ministry of Information.

In 1967, he became a federal permanent secretary in the Ministry of Information and subsequently moved to Lagos.