Eldritch, I too loathe the lumping together of all African countries as one homogenous mass of poverty, corruption and crime. There is so much ethnic, cultural, historical and socio-economic diversity across the whole continent, and people like you and I, who originate from there, know this better than people who've lived their whole lives in one culture apart from the odd sunny week in Spain. And god knows that Western nations are just as corrupt in our own sweet ways; we just hide it better, which makes us devious as well. Niiice.
At the same time the more I learn about the varying histories and present-day situations of African countries, the more I have to admit that much of life in Africa as a whole is in a horrible mess, largely as the ongoing legacy of the way that Western powers ripped it to shreds under colonialism, shackled it as a parting gesture before closing the door on their empires and also through well-meant but oh-so-damaging aid programmes, and then pushed its face in the mud through so-called 'free' trade agreements, etc, which trash any chance of a level playing field in the present day.
When people say 'well, they've had their independence for x years, they still haven't sorted themelves out' they show their utter can't-be-arsed ignorance and, frankly, stupidity. It's like asking why, after being released from say 40 years of ongoing physical, financial and emotional abuse, a woman hasn't found a boyfriend and a steady job yet. Imagine that such a woman, who has been physically damaged and utterly destroyed to the core, is then released but only on condition that she is financially tied to her abuser for life - and her offspring too. And yet she tries her hardest to leap straight up to the level of her peers, having never actually had a chance to go through all the usual stages of life development. She's going to fail quite a lot, isn't she? It's a crap analogy but it sort of depicts only part of what the West has done and continues to do across Africa. Just this summer in Nigeria Western oil companies have finally been compelled by law to stop polluting the oil-rich regions on a scale a million times worse than the BP Atlantic oil spill. They have finally been told that they have to start cleaning up the mess, which, until now, they had just ignored. That is one in a million stories of the West fucking up Africa. And we complain about economic migrants coming to our shores to clean our offices. Jeez. 
What I am saying here is that I do understand why Clarkson said Africa is fucked, though I'm not sure he understands that statement as broadly as I do - and I wouldn't claim to be an expert, either.
It's late. I am ranting. I only hope I haven't embarassed myself as much as YA-B 