IGWEBUIKE: African Journal of Arts and Humanities

The work examines the impact of leadership failures in Nigeria and how Kant’s retributive justice could curb corruption, stealing of public funds, and poverty in Nigeria. It has been a long time since Nigerians expected positive changes and development in the country, which have yet to be experienced. However, bad governance and corruption, as intertwined concepts, have largely dealt a serious blow to the hopes and expectations of the average Nigerian, thanks to corrupt leadership and the stealing of public funds. The worsening level of poverty, kidnapping and killings recorded in the country could have been avoided if effective and productive leadership were in place. In his metaphysics of morals, Kant argued that retributive justice should be applied as a deterrent against corrupt leaders who impoverish the citizens. Previous studies called for true federalism and the declaration of assets but did not consider retributive justice as a solution to lingering poverty and corrupt practices among Nigerian leaders. Using the phenomenological and textual interpretation methods, the paper argues that in achieving a poverty- and corruption-free environment, Nigeria should put in place retributive justice in the form of a death penalty measure to discourage corrupt leadership in Nigeria, as is obtainable in China.

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