Buhari mourns statistician-general, Simon Harry

President Muhammadu Buhari has condoled with family, friends and associates of Simon Harry, the Statistician-General of the Federation, who passed away Wednesday.

Also commiserating with the government and people of Plateau State on the loss, and noting his exemplary contributions to the evolution of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and developmental planning of the country, President Buhari paid tribute to the late Statistician-General who worked with previous heads of the organisation in recent years, providing relevant data to government and making the NBS a point of reference on various issues affecting the country.

The president affirmed that with his appointment in August, 2021, Mr Harry ensured that the organisation where he had put in three decades, continued to be relevant in taking crucial decisions in the country.

He urged colleagues in the field of data gathering and analysis, especially at the NBS, to take solace in the fact that having risen to the pinnacle of his career, the late Dr Harry put in his best in the service of the country.

He prayed that God will repose his soul and comfort the family in this time of grief.

Before his appointment as the statistician-general, Mr Harry was the Director of Corporate Planning and Technical Coordination Department of NBS with almost three decades of experience.

He joined the Federal Office of Statistics as Statistician 11 in 1992 and rose to the position of a substantive Director of Statistics in 2019.