Gunmen Kill Seven Policemen, One Civilian in Jigawa
10 Apr 2014
Armed Boko Haram
By Ibrahim Shuaibu
A relatively peaceful Jigawa State was again jolted Wednesday when gunmen killed seven policemen and one civilian in an attack on Gwaram in Gwaram Local Government of the state.
The gunmen, who stormed the area in the early hours of yesterday, attacked a police station, Sharia Court and a bank.
The policemen on duty had exchanged fire with the terrorists for several hours but were overpowered.
The Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Zone One, Kano, Tambari Yabo, confirmed the incident to journalists in Dutse, the state capital.
“About 200 terrorists came on motorcycles and some stolen cars, attacked a police station, a bank and a sharia court in Gwaram at about 1.a.m. today.”
Yabo said: “Unfortunately we lost seven of our men and one civilian during the attack.”
However, the corpses of those killed were taken to mortuary at Resheed Shekoni Specialist Hospital, Dutse the state capital.
At the time of filing this report, no arrest had been made, but security surveillance had been intensified in the area.
The latest attack is the third on Gwaram town by gunmen in recent time.
‘It Will Take Nigeria Decades to Catch up with S’Africa’s Economy’
South African economists yesterday said it would “take decades” for Nigeria to catch up to the South African economy in spite of the announcement that Nigeria is now the biggest economy in Africa.
The economists while saying that the announcement was good news for the continent, added that one clear advantage South Africa has over Nigeria was its infrastructure which they said was far more developed.
This follows the release of the long awaited figures of more accurate gross domestic product levels for Nigeria.
The results of the rebasing which was undertaken by National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), makes the Nigeria’s economy about 60 per cent bigger than the South African economy.
“We had expected this all along, Nigeria has been the biggest economy for a number of years but it was the way they had calculated their figures,” economist, Dawie Roodt, told The Africa Report.
“It is good news for Nigeria and good news for Africa.”
The figures show the Nigerian GDP is at $509 billion with the South African economy at $322 billion.
It was the first time in 24 years that Nigeria rebased its GDP calculations.
“Two major industries were excluded in their calculation namely telecommunications and the film industry known as Nollywood,” Roodt said.
He said there had been phenomenal growth in these industries, which had contributed to the growth of the Nigerian economy.
South Africa’s Ministry of Finance also welcomed the news of Nigeria’s ascendancy.
“This is a positive story of African countries contributing to re-shaping each other’s economies through increased investment,” the ministry said.
However, Roodt said it would “take decades” for Nigeria to catch up to the South African economy that is much more diversified and its infrastructure is well developed.
He added that the population size is also much bigger but Nigeria’s per capita growth is much lower than South Africa.
“South Africa shouldn’t be worried and ironically our telecommunication companies like MTN and retails stores like Shoprite are heavily invested in Nigeria,” he added.
However, the official opposition, the Democratic Alliance (DA), had a different take.
“We believe that South Africa has the potential to do much better. With decisive leadership, the right policy mix and a government committed to job creating inclusive economic growth, we can again challenge Nigeria for the number one spot,” the DA said in a statement.
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