Should Community Service Be Encouraged More In Nigeria?

It is not usual to see someone asked to do Community service as opposed to serving jail time in this part of the world, but it looks like that will change anytime soon if  Olakunle Adewusi, a Field Service Officer, State Community Service Unit at the Ministry of Justice, Lagos state has anything to do about it.

He is advocating that convicts of minor offences should be sentenced to community service like cleaning drainage, sanitation work, caring for abandoned children, among others. Olakunle Adewusi made his opinion known to the News Agency Of Nigeria, NAN, yesterday in Lagos that this would help decongest the prisons in the country. 
As at July, 2014, there were 1,914 inmates and offenders on remand in the 800 inmate capacity prison in Ikoyi and more than 70 per cent of them were awaiting trial.

According to him, a good number of awaiting trial persons on remand are those accused of traffic offences, verbal abuse, assault, and offences that are not life threatening and it won't be fair to allow such accused persons rot in prison.

He therefore urged magistrates to heed this suggestion as sentencing people to do community service will be a big relief to governments in terms of public funds being expended to sustain, maintain and develop the criminal correction system.

What do you think? do you agree with him?

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