The Joint Lagos State Miners Association has kicked against the stop-work order issued by the state government on excavation of sand in the state.
The group, in a letter dated January 26, expressed displeasure over the order, saying it was not in tandem with an agreement reached between the group and the government after a meeting in December.
It claimed that the outcome of the meeting was that the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, O.N. Hotonu, would liaise with the stakeholders in the mining business, adding that the notice was served unilaterally.
The ministry had on Monday January 25, served the order on the miners on the grounds that their activities amounted to degradation of the state’s ecosystem.
The ministry also stated in the order that “the mining portends great danger of imminent mining-related disasters.”
The miners were urged to strictly adhere to the stop-work order as law enforcement agencies had been put on notice to arrest and prosecute any erring miner.
However, the group, which comprises miners from Ajah, Badagry and Ikorodu areas wrote the Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Olawale Oluwo, saying the order was politically motivated.
A statement by the group on Wednesday read in part, “We are dismayed at the ministry’s disrespect for an earlier agreement reached at a meeting held with the commissioner and the permanent secretary in December, 2015. We are not pleased with the development which we believe has political undertone.”
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