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From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
The burial of Statistician General (SG) of the Federation, Dr Simon Harry, on Friday April 22, 2022, triggered a fresh scramble for the position of Chief Executive Officer of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) now vacant with the death of Dr Harry.
Directors in the race for the plum job include the Directors of Demographics and Household Statistics, Mr Adeyemi Adeniran; Information and Communication Technology, Mr Biyi Fafunmi; Social and Gender Statistics, Mr A.T Adebisi; Corporate Planning and Statistics Co-ordination, Mr Godwin Ameh; Prices and Trade Statistics, Mr Austin Anyakora.
Other directors that may qualify for the job in the NBS hierachy are those of Field Services and Methodology, Mr Ishiaku Maigida and National Accounts, Energy and Environment Statistics, Mr Daramola Mustapha.
Others are Communications and Public Relations, Mr Sunday Joel Ichedi; Agriculture and Business Enterprises Statistics, Mr David Babalola and Reform Co-ordination and Service Delivery, Mr Vincent Oriokpa.
All the directors are eminently qualified for the job of the Statistician General of the Federation going by their years of service and credentials.
Although the workers would be at home with an insider who understands their needs and aspirations, the Federal Government has the prerogative to appoint anybody to head the bureau.
Daily Sun gathered that some people from outside the bureau are equally making frantic moves to occupy the Statistics House. While some are going through the Senate President, others are going through the supervising minister of NBS who is also the Minister of Finance Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed.
From a reliable source, President Muhammadu Buhari would announce the appointment of the helmsman immediately after the Sallahcelebration, which is the reason for intense scheming and nochureunal moves to be selected. However, the normal process of appointing the bureau’s chief executives is that the most senior director assumes the position. But the process was truncated by the President Goodluck Jonathan’s People’s Democratic Party (PDP) administration when he appointed Dr Yemi Kale, as the Statistician General of the Federation in 2011.
Buhari appointed the late Dr Simon Harry as Kale’s successor in 2021.
Harry’s achievements in his very short stint in office had endeared him to the staff who are now clamouring for a ‘homemade’ Statistician General (SG).
Harry took over from Kale on August 31, 2021 as the SG after Kale had served out his 10-year tenure.
While Kale was recruited from outside the system, Harry grew from within the system. To this extent, he understood the needs and aspirations of his staff and he did not waste time to restructure the office.
Considering his achievements in his eight months tenure, Daily Sun asked him if it was advisable to pick the leadership of NBS from within going forward?
“Definitely, experience in both administration and technical operations is not something you just come up overnight and acquire it.
