Lagos — Lagos State Government yesterday unveiled one solar-powered toilet project recently constructed for the use of its residents living in Lekki.

The government also approved more than 100 of the same projects for rural communities across the state.

Speaking during an inspection tour yesterday, Commissioner for Rural Development, Prince Lanre Balogun, explained that the state government chose the projects because most people in Lagos communities "are defecating the environment because they do not have toilets."

He added that the lack of toilet facilities in different Lagos communities informed the state government's decision to build the communal toilet powered by solar energy to serve the community. He said: "In this area, people defecate in the open environment, this is bad. These solar-powered toilets, if properly maintained, could last for 25 years.

It is of the same standard you can get anywhere in the world." He also disclosed that the Fashola administration had started distributing 200 transformers to rural communities in the state, saying some of the communities had already received theirs.

Balogun explained that Fashola had already approved the distribution of the transformers and that the communities that would benefit from the distribution had been notified while some had been supplied.

He urged traditional rulers in Lekki areas not to scuttle the Lekki master plan and warned that the government would not hesitate to pull down any structure that was not constructed in line with the master plan.

Speaking while inspecting the construction of the 5.7km Awoyaya-Iwerekun road, Balogun urged the Baales to get approval from the state government before any structure was erected beside the road so as not to carry out a wasted project that would end up being demolished for failing to meet the master plan standard.

He appealed to the traditional rulers in Lekki not to sell land in the area in a hurry, as their value would soon rise due to the pace of development in Lagos megacity and disclosed that the government had begun the rehabilitation and upgrading of 24 micro water works in the state, which were abandoned by previous regimes.

It would be recalled that the administration of Governor Babatunde Fashola had approved and subsequently distributed over 200 transformers to boost electric power in the state in addition to the solar-powered facilities approved for rural communities.