Autonomous African Region Of The Week

One of the people at yesterday's discussion explained how Nigeria had revived its agriculture sector, which further hardened my conviction that although "Trade not aid" is a good mantra, this is partly, or even largely, because trade in itself engenders good governance (a country's productive capacity being largely a function of its political stability, lack of corruption, rule of law, educational standards, all of which lead ineluctably to some sort of democratic system etc), so at its most fundamental level, "good governance" is the only way that countries can drag themselves out of poverty*.

Stan left a comment on my earlier post as follows:

Government sponsored aid is what keeps most of the third world - and Africa in particular - in poverty.

Look at Somaliland. Because it doesn't officially exist it does not qualify for official government aid - so it has become largely self-reliant and as a result has democratic elections (internationally recognised as being both free and fair), a small but improving economy, improving infrastructure, a free and independent media (we could learn something from them here!) and is one of the few places in Africa where refugees are happily returning to.

Meanwhile, its southerly neighbour - Somalia - is a hellhole of corruption, war and poverty despite (or because of) untold millions of international aid. Typically, governments give aid to other governments with little restraint on how that money is then used. It just should not happen. International aid should be restricted to emergency situations - such as the tsunami or earthquake situations. It should not become part of the annual budget of some despot government.

I accept that there is always more to this than a country's Wikipedia entry, but this does appear to illustrate the point very nicely, so a big thanks to Stan for that.

* Or indeed a way in which first world countries can improve their own wealth, happiness etc.