No More Aid For Africa

Is the stunning title of a book written by a Swedish journalist, Bengt Nilsson and reviewed by New African magazine. Read it here. The author makes the case that the money to finance the wars in Africa has to come from somewhere and so goes about following the paper trail which leads him back to his own country. Using sources such as Oxfam, Economist Paul Collier (who’s book “The Bottom Billion” seeks to address aid and other issues) and local accounts he shows how aid can easily be diverted from its intended goals and worst still, condoned by the inaction of the donor country – in this case, Sweden. I hoped that this blog would not turn into a summary bashing of the aid agenda but what can I say now? Hopefully, these revelations can lead to a better measure of transparency and debate of the aid dogma. Aid has it’s place but ineptitude mixed with good intentions is a 4 lane superhighway to hell. If your friend is an alcoholic do not give him whisky when he says he’s thirsty.

This is the first, of what I hope will be an ongoing feature, podcast. I recorded a conversation with Mr. Michael Banjo a historian, political scientist and lawyer from Nigeria to discuss, in a broad way, the adverse impact of aid on the African continent and some possible solutions.