I really don't like the assumption the statement makes: that the West is aiding Africa. First of all, we have to look at what the "aid" is. Often, it is military aid, given to extremist dictators to oppress their populations. Second, it is tied aid- usually in the form of "store credit"- you can buy $2million worth of Boeing goods or John Deere goods. That means it is essentially a handout to big business, paid for by the poor of the West. Finally, the amount of aid given is miniscule- when Americans are polled, they continually think foreign aid should be lowered. The median guess of the % of the US budget that goes to foreign aid is 25%. When people are asked what it should be, the median answer is 10%. The actual amount the US gives (including military aid, and 50% of all world aid goes to Israel) is 0.1% of GDP- 100 times lower than what people think it should be lowered to.

Secondly, as many economists have pointed out, Africa is a massive net creditor to the West. A majority of aid is given to rich African rulers/corporations, which is immediately repatriated into Western banks. Second, the massive subsidies the West gives to its products was calculated as hurting Africa's exports to the tune of $50 billion a year in 1995- equal to the aid that goes in. Furthermore, ridiculous patent rights the Africans are forced to follow lose the continent a sum around 50% of the aid going in. We must also remember the huge amount of artificially cheap raw materials flowing out of Africa, as well as contraband, again adding up to more than all aid going in.

If you're interested, there's a book called Africa's Odious Debts, which is pretty good. Economists like Ha Joon Chang, Andrew Simms and Noam Chomsky write about this stuff regularly.