(More on the follies of foreign aid.)
Another illustration of why most foreign aid does more harm than good: "£220bn stolen by Nigeria's corrupt rulers".
Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, has spoken of a new Marshall Plan for Africa. But Nigeria's rulers have already pocketed the equivalent of six Marshall Plans. After that mass theft, two thirds of the country's 130 million people - one in seven of the total African population - live in abject poverty, a third is illiterate and 40 per cent have no safe water supply.With more people and more natural resources than any other African country, Nigeria is the key to the continent's success.
Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, set up three years ago, said that £220 billion was "squandered" between independence from Britain in 1960 and the return of civilian rule in 1999.
Unless we get to control how the money is spent and distributed, we're fools to give the thugs that rule Africa another penny. Every cent we give them is used to further entrench their own power and to oppress the African people. Most foreign aid is a literal crime against humanity -- it's too bad that ridiculously ignorant celebrities can't see the effects of their bleeding hearts. The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
The aims of making trade laws fair and cancelling debt seem eminently sensible to me. Do you obect to those as well?
jez: Depends what you mean by "fair", since that's often a loaded code word. I'm generally in favor of lower trade barriers and tariffs from both sides; unfortunately, many countries expect us to lower our barriers without opening their economies similarly.
As for debt relief, it depends on the circumstance. I'm against anything that puts more money into the pockets of dictators for them to use to oppress their people. Most debt could be paid off if countries would liberalize their economies.