Speaking in Ilorin during the first annual general meeting (AGM) of the state government-owned Harmony Holdings Limited, at the weekend, Ahmed said the era of state governments’ reliance on federation account for growth and development is over.

The governor said the wholly owned investments holding company of the state has a revenue target of N50 billion by 2032.

He said: “The purpose of the Kwara Holdings Limited is becoming clearer to all of us. We are finding ourselves at a time in Nigeria where it is no more business as usual. It is becoming clearer everyday that we cannot continue our affairs the way we used to. As a government, we cannot continue to rely on money coming from the federation account for growth and development. The reason is because the allocation is becoming smaller every other day.

“The rate of population growth is higher than the rate of growth of the internally generated revenue (IGR). More people are pursing allocation that is not forthcoming. That tells us that as a government, we must begin to think strategically. That is why any serious government that intends to deliver goods and services to the people must look for other ways and means to raise money to drive governance. If you don’t have the idea, you have no business contesting. You cannot come to the seat and begin to complaining that the allocation is small.

“You must come with ingenuity on how to raise the money and part of this is to use what we have to get what we want. That brought us to begin to review all the assets under the state government. Government in its wisdom in the past sought to deliver services to the people, but the ministries as we know them are enabling bureaucratic instruments to drive policies for service delivery to the peoples.

“Unfortunately, we have seen the way and manner some of these governmental agencies were run hitherto. Because there have been so much reliance on the federation allocation and the little that is collected under the pay as you earn (PAYE) system, government has kept an eye close in seeing through the affairs of some of these subsidiaries that was why they were running before we started this Harmony Holdings Ltd.

“But today government had to take a look at all the assets it has with a view to converting them to resources that can help build the state. So let nobody has it at the back of his mind that Harmony Holdings Ltd has not come to stay.

“Because Kwara state needs money, these companies were not set up for social services. The only way we can get it done when we have an articulate way we can measure our assets, put them into use for them to generate revenue for us.  It is that simple.

“Harmony Holdings Ltd has a target of about N50 billion in revenue by 2032, this company has not been started to support only this administration; it is a continuously growing concern. It is going to outlive all of us here. It will take us to that level when the state in-flow of the federation allocation the icing in the cake.  Government has no time to waste asset again, all assets must be put to use.  The company is the only platform we have to put government assets to optimal use.

“The moment that the resources we expect to come from Harmony Holdings Ltd improves and becomes standard, then government can commit itself to long term borrowings to execute capital projects.”

In his report, Chairman of the company, Prof Halidu Abubakar said that in spite of the tough and challenging operating environment, the company and its group recorded profit before tax of N308 in 2013.

He noted that “the operational environment in the year under review has been very hash as the costs of doing business continue to rise unabatedly due to infrastructural inadequacies.

“Liquidity challenge was also an issue which the company faced in the course of the operating year. However, to build on this success, strategic target for 2014 will focus on the consolidation of more subsidiaries and diversification of our business portfolio.”