Simon Harry, Nigeria’s Statistician-General is dead

Simon Harry, the Statistician-General of the Federation is dead. Mr Harry’s death was announced on Wednesday morning.

According to a source at the National Bureau of Statistics, Mr Harry has been in coma since Saturday and died early hours of Wednesday.

Mr Harry’s death was confirmed in a press statement issued by Ichedi Joel, Director of Communication and Public Relations, NBS.

What NBS is saying

The statement noted that Mr Harry died after a brief illness.

“The Board, management and staff of National Bureau of Statistics(NBS), with a deep sense of loss, announce the passing on of the Statistician General of the Federation and Chief Executive Officer of NBS, Dr. Simon Harry, in the early hours of today, Wednesday, April 13th 2022 after a brief illness.”

“The deceased was happily married and his marriage is blessed with children,” the statement read in part.

What you should know

• In August 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Mr Harry as the new SG to head the NBS.
• Mr Harry joined the service as Statistician II in 1992 and rose to the position of Substantive Director of Statistics in 2019.
• Mr Harry is loved by the staff of NBS because of his contributions and transformation of the office since he took over as SG.
• The deceased was born on March 15, 1965 in Lishin-Jengre local government of Plateau State.
• He graduated from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria with a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) honours degree in Economics.
• In 1997, he obtained a Post-Graduate Diploma in Statistics from the University of Ibadan.
• He holds a Masters degree and PhD in Economics from the University of Abuja and was a member of many professional bodies in Nigeria and abroad.
• Mr Harry started his public career in 1992 and had risen through the ranks before he was appointed the Statistician-General of the Federation on August 26th 2021.