There are two indisputable facts about Africa today. The first is the enormity of human suffering engendered by political upheavals, economic regression, administrative brigandage and external manipulations. The second is the flurry of international efforts to help poor Africans. Observe the list of the NGOs working in Africa and the barrage of adverts showing scraggy, famished black children, flies nesting in their eyes and noses, ready to die unless someone helps NOW.

In July's "Make Poverty History," thousands of people of conscience proclaimed that the suffering people of the developing countries, should not be allowed to perish under our watch. Before the world, rock stars and legislators disapprovingly pointed out this evil. This article is my shriek in this continual global shout for justice and fair play.

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Not too long ago, whether out of compunction or as a gesture of good will, the Paris Club decided to forgive the debts of some 18 poorest countries in the world. In June 2005, they also "forgave" US$18 billion of Nigerian debt, which stood at about US$30 billion even though the country has paid more than it owes through debt servicing. In many quarters the debt relief was seen as an act of charity from the Big Brother.

In as much as I would not like to be ungrateful to the Big Brother and those who put their lives on the line to help the suffering people of Africa, I would like to say that to avoid pouring money into a leaking sack, we need to help Africa in the way that will really help our people. For instance, how did Africa, especially Sub-Saharan Africa, come to where it is today languishing under a heavy debt owed to the Big Brother of the West?

First, it should be noted that a large chunk of this crushing debt was lent during the Cold War to prop up dictatorial, oppressive and corrupt regimes around Africa. America and Europe played out this drama with Russia in many countries in Africa. This resulted in the assassination of Congo's first Prime Minister, Patrice Lumuroba (1925-1961), by a coalition of CIA agents and Belgian mercenaries, and the imposition of the dictator and kleptomaniac, Mobutu Sese Seko, in his stead; the overthrow of Ghana's president, Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972), in 1966, along with the Angolan War. The conflict was seen as a struggle of capitalism, championed by Jonas Savimbi and his Unita movement against the socialist regime of Jose Eduardo dos Santos, which was supported by Cuba, the Soviet Union and other fratricidal wars in Mozambique, Ethiopia and elsewhere.

Despite the fact that the lenders were aware that the loans were not used to develop the country or the people, they continued lending. So, most of the money lent was money given to American and European cronies in Africa, not to African people who are now paying the interest on these loans with their blood and the future of their children.

An epidemic of corruption

Many western countries, the U.S. especially, have tied future aid to Africa to the eradication of corruption by African governments. This is a demand that no sane person can dispute; just as nobody can dispute that over 90 per cent cause of poverty and economic regression in Africa is corruption in all its ramifications. But who is corrupting whom?

In my country of Nigeria, all the major cases of corruptions have foreign involvement. After assuming power in 1999, the Nigerian president, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo (rtd), instituted a Peace and Reconciliation Commission, commonly called Oputa Panel in Nigeria.

The commission revealed how western corporations and individuals connived with corrupt politicians to loot the country. The recently constructed Nigerian National Stadium has been criticized as being over-valued. It was built by a foreign-owned company at the cost of about US$900 million when the real worth is estimated at US$150 million. It is common knowledge in Nigeria today that any foreign company who is not ready to play along with corruption cannot survive. Many of the white elephant projects which were deliberately embarked upon as a means of looting the country's treasury were executed by foreign companies. The bid to produce Nigerian National ID cards resulted in fraud involving millions of dollars perpetrated by a foreign company in collaboration with corrupt government officials. Will Western leaders want us to believe that they were completely oblivious of the atrocities their companies are committing in the third world?

Of course, nobody still bothers to talk about the criminal involvement of foreign banks in the looting of other African countries. In May 2005, Mr Nuhu Ribadu, the chairman of the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFFCC) said that the Nigerian military regimes wasted US$400 billion. A good percentage of that money is hibernating in various European and American banks. The erstwhile Nigerian military dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha (1993-1998), is believed to have stolen at least US$3 billion. In June 2005, the head of the United Kingdom Central Authority for Organized Crimes and International Directorate at the Home Office, Mr Simon Regis, said that Sani Abacha laundered about US$1.3 billion through U.K. banks. This seemed to have forced Britain into taking action. It arrested Joshua Dariye, one of the State Governors in Nigeria.