Late Francesca Emmanuel
By Sam Tor
President Muhammadu Buhari commiserates with the Emmanuel family on the passing of Nigeria’s first female permanent secretary, Francesca Emmanuel, at 86.
This was contained in a statement by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity.
As a Federal civil servant who rose to the enviable height of permanent secretary until retirement in 1988, the President affirms that Mrs. Emmanuel’s distinguished service to the nation showcased her as a true patriot, amazon and administrator par excellence.
President Buhari recognizes her many efforts to modernise the civil service and for offering her services and wealth of experience as member of several boards and governing councils of government establishments.
The President believes that Mrs Emmanuel’s works will continue to be felt and honoured in the public service which she devotedly served as well as the arts, literary and fashion sectors where she excelled.
He prays God Almighty to comfort family, friends and associates of the deceased and grant her soul eternal rest.
Mrs Emanuel died on Tuesday night of natural causes.
Born Francesca Yetunde Pereira in Lagos on September 19, 1933, Emanuel was an accomplished public civil servant, administrator, singer, poet, actress as well as a distinguished woman of the arts. Francesca was
Franco, as she was popularly called, attend kindergarten classes at the Methodist Girls’ School, from 1938 to 1940; and primary school at Princess School, Lagos, from 1941 to 1945.
Thereafter, she gained admission to Holy Child College, Lagos in 1946. In 1952, after obtaining her Cambridge School Certificate in top grade, she was admitted to the University College, Ibadan (now University of Ibadan) where she studied Geography. In 1955, she obtained the Inter-B.A. after which she transferred to the University College, London for her main degree and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A): Honours degree in Geography in 1959. Mrs. Emmanuel had her professional career largely in the civil service. She went through the whole gamut of the various arms of the Federal Civil Service. She started as Assistant Secretary, Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, 1959-1960, becoming, by this appointment, the first indigenous female Administrative Officer in the Federal Civil Service.
Between 1960 and 1961, she was at the Federal Ministry of Establishment from where she was transferred to the Police Affairs Division in the Cabinet Office from 1961 to 1964. In recognition of her outstanding performance, she was appointed Senior Assistant Secretary, Secretariat of the Morgan Commission of Nigerian Workers, in 1964; Under-Secretary, Federal Ministry of Commerce and Industry, 1964 to 1969; Deputy-Secretary, Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, 1969-1973; she also served as Principal Secretary, Cabinet Office, 1973 to 1974; and Secretary, Federal Public Service Commission, January to June, 1975.
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