Mr. Okafor, Christopher Maduabuchi, was born on October 23, 1953 and attended Nigeria’s premier and preeminent University, the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, where he obtained a BSc degree in Statistics in 1980. In addition, he holds an MSc degree in Economics, obtained from the Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Enugu, Nigeria in 2008. He also attended the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, The Netherlands in 2003, and obtained a Post Graduate Diploma in Modeling and Accounting for Sustainable Development, specializing in National Accounts, Econometrics and Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models. Furthermore, he attended the Institute for Social Research of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA and obtained a certificate in Survey Research Techniques in 2005.

At the professional level, Mr. Okafor is a two-term President of the Nigerian Statistical Association (NSA) (2003-2008), a Fellow of the NSA (2009), an elected member of the International Statistical Institute (ISI) – the highest statistical body in the world (2009) and a member of the Nigerian Economic Society (2003). Mr. Okafor had a meritorious and meteoric career at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), where he retired voluntarily as a Deputy Director in June, 2011 after 30 years of service. While at the CBN, he worked in 3 departments, namely, the Research, Statistics and Monetary Policy departments, where he headed at various times, 7 divisions, including the, General Economic Statistics Division (where he headed 3 offices, namely, the Real Sector Statistics Office, the External Sector Statistics Office and the Government Finance Statistics Office); the Economic Modeling and Statistics Division (where he supervised, among others, the compilation of Nigeria’s Trade and Balance of Payments (BOP) Statistics); the Policy Intelligence Unit; the Fiscal Analysis Division and the Monetary Policy Committee Secretariat Division – where he provided monetary policy options for the Bank. At the CBN, he was not only the head of the Informal Sector Study Group but also initiated the nation-wide collaborative survey with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) which led to the production of quarterly Gross Domestic Product (GDP) series in 2005, which were highly celebrated then and formed the basis for the rebased Nigeria’s GDP series. He also wrote policy memos that facilitated the creation of the current world class Statistics Department of the CBN in 2008.

During his service years, he represented the CBN on a number of national statistical policy platforms, including the design of the National Statistical Master Plan and was among the committee that merged the Federal Office of Statistics and the National Data Bank to form the present National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). He was the Chairman, Editorial Committee of the CBN’s Annual and Half-year Reports for 2003 & 2004.  He was also the Editor, CBN Statistical Bulletin, during 2002 – 2005. Mr. Okafor attended meetings of the Expert Group on Data Harmonization in respect of the ECOWAS Convergence Criteria, Niamey, Niger Republic, 2002. Similarly, he was a member of the Experts Working Group on Statistical Harmonization in the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ), 2004, during which they prescribed minimum standards for the production of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the GDP in the WAMZ. In particular, encouraged the production of the CPI based on the COICOP approach. To keep himself updated professionally, he attends the annual conference of the Nigerian Statistical Association and even in retirement, has attended the ISI’s Conferences held in Brazil, Morocco and Malaysia in 2015, 2017, and 2019, respectively.

Mr. Okafor has been trained by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the Methodology for the compilation of Balance of Payments (BOP) Statistics in Washington DC, in 1996, Monetary and Financial Statistics (2006) and Government Finance Statistics (2007). From November 1, 2009 to October 31, 2010, he was one of 5 statisticians from sub-Saharan Africa, offered scholarship by Internationale Weiterbildung und Entwicklung gGmbH (InWEnt), Germany for a Fellowship programme on International Leadership Training (ILT) on Sustainability Management, with intensive insights into Statistics. In the course of the study, he was seconded for internship to the BOP Section, External Statistics Division, Directorate General Statistics of the European Central Bank (ECB). During the period at the ECB, his research study focused on ‘Measuring Informal Cross Border Trade (ICBT) for Sustainable Development in Nigeria.’ At the ECB, he also attended the Annual External Statistics Seminar of the ECB, on the 6^th Manual of BOP Methodology and International Investment Position (IIP) Compilation. Mr. Okafor speaks a little German and is computer literate and has over 20 international and local publications to his credit and is highly networked within the international statistical community. Again, his study of Statistics and Economics ensures he understands the nuances in the analysis and interpretation of numbers, especially in the face of alternative policy configurations.

He is currently a Data Management Consultant and has consulted for the Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, the German International Development Cooperation (GIZ), Abuja, Nigeria in 2012 on measuring cross border trade in Ogun State, Nigeria. His company, Xtokaf Nigeria Limited undertook a Research Study of Ginger in Plateau State, Nigeria, March 28, 2017 for the GIZ, Abuja. Mr. Okafor also consults for the Centre for Management Development; the CBN and the NBS. He was hired by the European Union (EU) under the SUFEGOR programme to lead a team of 4 consultants to develop Nigeria’s Sector Statistics Strategy in 2015. Again, he was commissioned by the West African Monetary Institute (WAMI), Accra, Ghana for the construction of the Trade Integration Index for the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) in 2015, which is already in use. In January, 2015, he was engaged by the London Academy Business School, as part of the faculty that facilitated at the CBN International Training Institute (ITI) on Monetary Policy Communication.  In that same year, he also facilitated at the ITI, CBN on Consumer Survey and later on BOP in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019. He taught Research Methodology, Survey Methodology and Data Management at the ITI, March 25 – April 5, 2019 as well as National Accounts at the ITI, CBN (29/7/19 – 9/8/19) .

He also attended and facilitated at a Coordination Meeting on Informal Cross-Border Trade (31/7-1/8/19) organized by Afreximbank and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) in Abuja, Nigeria. Mr. Okafor also presented a discussion paper on ‘Developing an African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Implementation Strategy for Nigeria’s Private sector: The Informal Trade Dimension’ at the National AfCFTA Forum, organized by UNECA, et al, Lagos Nigeria, December 5-6, 2019. His company, Xtokaf Nigeria Limited, a Data Management Consulting firm has produced for the CBN, the 3^rd and 4^th Quarter, 2019 Reports on Market Intelligence for the conduct of Monetary Policy in Nigeria. The Reports were based on the reading of sentiments of formal and informal enterprises, as well as households for the production of Business and Consumer Confidence Indices on the Nigerian Economy. He facilitated at the Induction and Capacity Enhancement Course organised by the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM), Lagos for CBN participants during January 5 – February 14, 2020. Also, Mr. Okafor undertook a consultancy job for the UNECA on ‘Extending the Benefits of Free Trade to Informal Cross-Border Traders in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Region,’ during June – November, 2020. His exploits in Statistics has earned him the sobriquet, ‘Ogbakokpo’ – the man who adds it all. He is a member of the prestigious Hilltop Club of Enugu State, Nigeria and is happily married with children.