Harlen Anireju Ejueyitchie

Harlen Anireju Ejueyitchie, CFR (died 1978) was a Nigerian civil servant who served as Secretary to the Federal Military Government and Head of the Federal Civil Service under the military regime of Yakubu Gowon between 1966 and 1970.

Civil service career Ejueyitchie was an Itsekiri from the Mid-Western Region (present-day Delta State). Government records indicate that he was employed as an administrative assistant by the Nigerian government by 1954.

In the Mid-West Regional Government, he served as Administrator’s Executive Officer.

He was appointed Chairman of the Nigerian Railway Corporation by the Federal Government on 4 May 1965 following the demise of Okechukwu Ikejiani, who was the first Administrator of the Nigerian Railway Corporation.

Secretary to the Federal Military Government He was appointed Secretary to the Federal Military Government after Gowon's July 1966 counter-coup. General Gowon would later recall that he had initially considered Musa Daggash for the position, but Daggash recommended Ejueyitchie, who “was a more senior civil servant”.

During the early period of Gowon’s government, when federal ministries operated for several months without ministers, senior permanent secretaries had an unusually prominent role in formulating and implementing government policy. Former permanent secretary, Philip Asiodu, noted that “it was Ejueyitchie, as head of the civil service and secretary to the government, who facilitated the presentation by the permanent secretaries of their various proposals to Gowon for his consideration and approval”.

Ejueyitchie left the post of the Secretary to the Federal Military Government in December 1970.

Personal life and death He married educator Matilda Ejueyitchie in 1966. They had five children. According to Matilda Ejueyitchie, he died of a short illness in 1978 while the children were still young.

Honours Ejueyitchie held the rank of Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CON).