Samia Zekaria Gutu is an Ethiopian diplomat. She serves as the Director General of the

Central Statistical Agency The Central Statistical Agency, also known as the Ethiopian Statistical Service (ESS; Amharic: የኢትዮጵያ ስታቲስቲክስ አገልግሎት), is an Ethiopian government agency designated to provide all surveys and censuses for that ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

and was chairwoman of the

National Election Board of Ethiopia The National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) () is an autonomous federal government agency which supervises the national elections of Ethiopia. The NEBE was established by Proclamation number 64/1992, and answers to the House of Peoples' Re ...

until 2018.

Early life

Samia was born in the city of

Harar Harar (; Harari language, Harari: ሀረር / ; ; ; ), known historically by the indigenous as Harar-Gey or simply Gey (Harari: ጌይ, ݘٛىيْ, ''Gēy'', ), is a List of cities with defensive walls, walled city in eastern Ethiopia. It is al ...

and raised in

Dire Dawa Dire Dawa (; , meaning"where the Dir (clan), Dir hit his spear into the ground" or "The true Dir", , Harari language, Harari: ድሬዳዋ, lit. "Plain of Medicine"; ) is a city in eastern Ethiopia near the Somali Region and Oromia, Oromo borde ...

. She credits her mother who was president of the Harari association called ''Afocha'' for instilling leadership skills in her at a young age. Samia has a BA in agricultural economics at

Haramaya University Haramaya University (HU) (; Oromo: ''Univarsiitii Haramayaa'') is a public research university in Haramaya, Oromia Region, Ethiopia. It is approximately east of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Ministry of Science and Higher Education admits qualif ...

and an MA in econometrics/economic statistics at

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public university, public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the flagship instit ...

Career

Samia was chairwoman of the

until she was replaced by

Birtukan Mideksa Birtukan Mideksa (Amharic: ብርቱካን ሚደቅሳ; born 27 April 1974) is an Ethiopian politician and former judge who has served as chairwoman of the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) from 2018 to 2023. She was the founder and l ...

in 2018. She was also previously the Ethiopian ambassador to

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

and is currently the Ethiopian ambassador to

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

References

Texas Tech University alumni People from Harari Region Ethiopian government officials Ambassadors of Ethiopia to Qatar Ambassadors of Ethiopia to Nigeria People from Dire Dawa 1955 births Living people Ethiopian women ambassadors {{ethiopia-diplomat-stub