Musudroka is the first female appointed as the Acting CEO of the Fiji Bureau of Statistics

Maria Talei Divuyaliyali Musudroka has been appointed as the Acting Chief Executive of the Fiji Bureau of Statistics.

According to a government statement, Musudroka is the first female CEO of the Fiji Bureau of Statistics and brings over 20 years of professional experience from both the private and public sector with the last 10 years at the Fiji Bureau of Statistics.

It says Musudroka has vast experience in statistical compilation, analysis and reporting, strategic management, and public administration.

During her 10 year career at the Fiji Bureau of Statistics, she has been actively involved in the carrying out of the National Census, Household Income and Expenditure Survey, Employment and Unemployment Survey, and the compilation and reporting of various economic and social statistics.

Musudroka has a Master of Arts in Development Studies, Post Graduate Diploma in Development Studies and a Bachelor of Arts (Management & Public Administration) and (Demography – Population Studies).

Attorney-General and Minister for Economy, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says Musudroka's two decades of expertise qualify her to lead the compilation and publication of soundly-derived statistical information that can form the basis of well-formulated policies in supporting national development.

He says they look forward to working closely with the Bureau under Musudroka's leadership, particularly through their national effort to improve the socio-economic standing of all Fijians.

Sayed-Khaiyum further says that a genuine need is, and always will be, the only qualification to access the historic measures of support they have made available to the Fijian people and they count on reliable statistical information to equitably implement policies such as subsidised water and electricity, poverty benefit scheme, social pension scheme, disability allowance, child protection allowances, food voucher programme for rural pregnant women, subsidised bus fares for the elderly and those living with disabilities, unemployment benefits, food rations, and subsidised treatment at private general practitioner clinics provided by the Government.

Meanwhile, Kemueli Naiqama was sacked as the CEO of the Fiji Bureau of Statistics in September this year.

A government statement had stated that Naiqama had failed to comply with Section 5 of the Statistics Act 1961 by endorsing 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.