Nigeria’s statistician-general Simon Harry dies eight months after appointment

Statistician-general of the federation and head of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Simon Harry has passed on, the bureau said on Wednesday.

Harry, who was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari last August, died on Wednesday morning in Abuja after a brief ailment.

Spokesman of the NBS Ichedi Joel said: “It is not a rumour anymore, the SG is dead, he died from an illness.”

Appointed to replace Yemi Kale, Harry had worked at the NBS since 1992. His last job was as the director of corporate planning and technical coordination department at NBS.

He contributed to several reform initiatives during his civil service career, including the reform of the then Federal Office of Statistics, which evolved into the current National Bureau of Statistics, and the reform of the Nigerian Statistical System, which resulted in the creation and establishment of state bureaus of statistics at the subnational level.