NBS confirms death of Statistician-General, Simon Harry, aged 57

Dr Simon Harry, the Statistician-General of the Federation and Chief Executive of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is dead.

A statement issued on Wednesday in Abuja by the Director of Communication and Public Relations, NBS, Mr Ichedi Joel, said that Harry died in the early hours of Wednesday after a brief illness.

NBS statement is coming a few days after it had debunked rumour of the death of the Statistician-General.

The Bureau in the earlier statement had said it “wishes to state that there is no iota of truth in what was published by an online medium and considers the publication as the height of irresponsible journalism and a figment of the imagination of the publisher.

“The fact of the matter is that the Statistician-General was slightly indisposed on Saturday and following medication is now recuperating.

“We are well certain that he would, in a matter of a few days, be back to his desk and continue his work in repositioning the NBS as the foremost national statistics agency in Africa and among the best globally.”

Harry was born on March 15, 1965, in Lishin – Jengre in Plateau.

He attended L.E.A. Primary School, Tuddai, Kaduna State from 1974 to 1980.

Harry then proceeded to Amo Community Secondary School, Katako Jengre, from 1980 to 1985, from where he obtained his first school leaving certificate and the West African Examination Council (WAEC) certificates respectively.

The late statistician-general was admitted into the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria (1987 – 1990) and graduated with a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) honours degree in Economics.

He, thereafter, earned his Post-Graduate Diploma in Statistics from the University of Ibadan in 1997.

Harry later attended the University of Abuja from 2014 to 2017 for his Master of Science degree in Economics and also his Ph.D in Economics.

He started his public career in 1992 when he joined the then Federal Office of Statistics and rose through the ranks to become a director before his appointment as the statistician-general of the Federation on August 26, 2021.

The deceased was happily married and blessed with children.

Harry died seven months after his appointment as statistician-general of the Federation.