The Minister of State for Finance, Budget and National Planning Prince Clem Agba has described the passing of the Statistician General of the Federation, Simon Harry as a rude shock and diminishing.
The Minister was reacting to the passing of the SG in a statement he personally signed and made available on Wednesday.
The statement reads:
“I received with rude shock the news of the sudden death of the Statistician-General (SG) of the Federation, Simon Harry, which occurred on Wednesday morning in Abuja.
“The late Simon Harry served the nation with distinction as SG in the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS.
“He discharged the mandate of his office with unparalleled devotion and responsibility, always giving my office timeous reports on the activities of the National Bureau of Statistics as his supervising minister.
“I attest to the transformation that took place under his short leadership stint at the NBS. His death has diminished the clan of public office holders who are significantly committed to the nation’s development.
Following his appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari, Harry had hit the ground running, investing his best in the service for which history will not forget him and posterity will judge him positively.
“On behalf of the management and staff members of the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, I commiserate with the President, Muhammadu Buhari, his (Harry’s) family members and the management and staff members of the National Bureau of Statistics on this great loss.
“I pray that the Almighty God would grant the late Simon Harry’s soul eternal repose”.
Harry died at the Nissa Premier Hospital in Abuja where he was rushed to last Friday after he reportedly suffered a massive attack of stroke that led to his being brain dead and was on life-support machine since last Friday.
Only last Sunday, the NBS issued a statement debunking the death of the Statistician-General of the Federation describing the report as false.
Its Director, Communication and Public Relations Department, Ichedi Joel, on Sunday, refuted the report which he described as false, though admitting that the SG was ill on Saturday and was much better on Sunday after taking medications.
Late Harry replaced the former Statistician-General, Yemi Kale who was in the saddle for two terms of ten years and whose tenure expired on August 16, 2021.
Within eight months of being appointed, Harry reportedly transformed the NBS- both physical structure and administrative infrastructure, prioritising workers’ welfare in the transformational process.
He was, before his appointment as Statistician-General, the Director, Corporate Planning and Technical Coordination Department of NBS with almost three decades of statistical experience.
He joined the erstwhile Federal Office of Statistics as Statistician 11 in 1992 and rose to the position of a substantive Director of Statistics in 2019.
In the course of his civil service career, Harry has contributed to several reform initiatives including the reform of the then Federal Office of Statistics which transformed to the current National Bureau of Statistics, the reform of the Nigerian Statistical System which resulted to the creation and establishment of State Bureaus of Statistics at the sub-national level.
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