The new NBS will be governed by a Board of Directors and a Director General both of whom will be appointed by the President of South Sudan. The Board of Directors will be the highest policy making body of the NBS; and will formulate policies and set its internal regulations, priorities, standards and criteria for all censuses and surveys to be carried out in South Sudan. The organization, structure and powers of the NBS and terms and conditions of service of its personnel shall be regulated by law which will soon be tabled before Parliament.
Before its establishment under the Transitional Constitution, the official statistical agency of Southern Sudan was known as the Southern Sudan Centre for Census, Statistics and Evaluation (SSCCSE); and like its successor, was set up under the Interim Constitution of the then Southern Sudan in 2005.