By Jane Onozure

Lagos—Members of Lagos State Sand and Laterite Miners Association have expressed their support for the state government and disassociated themselves  from recent media reports attacking top official of the state Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.

A group, Joint Lagos State Miners Association, had recently described a recent “Stop Work Order” issued by the Ministry as “unacceptable” and had accused some top officials of the ministry of wrong doing on pages of national newspapers.

In a statement by its Chairman of Board of trustees, of Ibeju-Lekkei/Epe Sand and Laterite Miners Association and patron of Sand Miners Association of Nigeria, SMAN, Alhaji Ibrahim Ibuoye, described the Joint Lagos State Miners Association as an Illegal association and urged the state Ministry of Energy to ignore the publications.

“It has to be stated that we were not consulted before the offensive publications and we are not aware of any association called Joint Lagos State Miners Association. The publications were sponsored without the approval of the entire members of the association.

“We express our support to the government and people of Lagos State. As law abiding citizens, we have no choice than to comply with the stop-work order of the state government,” he said. We call on the state government to expedite action and ensure that all grey areas that led to the present misunderstanding are resolved within a short period and the stop-work order lifted as hundreds of thousands of Lagosians earn their daily bread through our association,” Ibuoye said.