Kemueli Naiqama has reclaimed his job as the chief executive of the Fiji Bureau of Statistics.
Naiqama was sacked by the Permanent Secretary for Finance, Shiri Goundar in September 2021 for failure to comply with Section 5 of the Statistics Act 1961.
At that time that it was an unfortunate blow to the Bureau’s credibility, Naiqama endorsed the publication of unverifiable information in the Housing Income and Expenditure Survey 2019-2020 relating to ethnicity and religion – data that was revealed to be extrapolated from erroneous sources and which exceeded the established scope of the survey’s data collection.
Naiqama was soon terminated after the then Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum raised concern about the ethnic and religious data released by the Fiji Bureau of Statistics in the 2019-2020 Household Income and Expenditure Survey.
Naiqama has over 28 years of experience in official statistics, economic policymaking and strategic planning.
He holds a Masters in Business Administration from USP, Post Graduate Certificate in International Relations, Bachelor of Arts majoring in Economics and a Bachelor of Technology.
Naiqama has held senior leadership positions within the Ministry of Finance, FBS and the Office of the Prime Minister.
He was seconded to serve as the Director’s Advisor at the Asian Development Bank – Naiqama and has also served in various Government and Regional Committees.
