The Pros And Cons Of Foreign Aid

When people read about foreign aid they immediately think of food and water. However foreign aid involves one nation giving resources to another nation that is struggling. Based on the country’s situation the aid can be financial, military, or simply food. The problem is there have been several of unsolved issues with these nations receiving their aid. Several of events has happened where our donations or the money the government gives have been misused or stolen.

In 2007 there was a case that occurred with the United Nations and North Korea; where the state department had to investigate and audit North Korea’s aid spending. North Korea spent $3 million dollars of the United Nation aid. Through this investigation the United Nations discovered

People argue that giving donations (tax dollars) to other nation leaders won 't help them succeed as a country. Doug Brandow wrote in his article called, “Foreign aid is a massive waste of U. S taxpayer money”, he believes that the foreign aid is a program that constantly fails. Brandow later says “Foreign assistance has always had strong defenders. They believed that fistfuls of cash could buy political stability, spur social progress and eliminate poverty in the Third World”. Not only do several of American citizens have this theory, but many of the countries feel the same way. For example Nigeria, a state in with an abundance of natural resources. Nigeria is Africa’s largest exporter, they sit on about 35 billion barrels of oil reserves. Also, they have approximately 100 trillion cubic feet of natural gases. In 2011 Nigeria was capturing almost 2 billion dollars a day! The profits would cover 70 percent of the Nigerian government 's

BBC news reports said, “The National Bureau of Statistics said 60.9% of Nigerians in 2010 were living in “absolute poverty” - this figure had risen from 54.7% in 2004.” BBC also claims the trend of poverty will on increase. But if Nigeria is economically flourishing then why do still receive aid? Michael Burleigh wrote an article with the bold title “ A country so corrupt it would be better to burn our aid money” he says that, “Since gaining its independence in 1960, Nigeria has received $400 billion (£257 billion) in aid — six times what the U.S. pumped into reconstructing the whole of Western Europe after World War II.” So what do they do with both the profits from oil and the aid the government gives Nigeria? They us all the foreign aid money to help the oil and natural gases businesses grow and give the leftover money to build small stores, schools, and homes with poor infrastructure. Nigeria misuse the government money by using it to build their businesses and make the wealthy leaders of the state more money, and giving little to none to the people who live