For the umpteenth time, the Kwara State government has debunked insinuations that Harmony Holdings Limited, managing government-owned companies, is owned by private individuals.

"Let me sound it loud and clear that Harmony Holdings Limited is 100 per cent owned by Kwara State Government," stressed the Senior Special Assistant to the governor on Media and Communications, Dr. Muideen Akorede.

Most companies and corporations of the state government have been handed over to the Harmony Holdings; among them are the Bureau of Lands, the state Investment and Properties Development Company, Kwara Football Academy, Patigi Regatta Hotels, among others. The latest to be acquired by the corporation is the Transport Corporation popularly known as Kwara Express. It has now been renamed Harmony Transport Services.

There have been speculations among Kwarans over the ownership of the company with many suggesting the corporation is a private entity wearing the cloak of government.

However, spokesman to Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed explained in a radio interview monitored by our correspondent in Ilorin that the company is wholly owned by the state just as it is managed by Kwarans.

He stated that the governor brought the state companies under one umbrella to drive them to profitability and concomitantly improve internally generated revenue.

Akorede said, "Before it was established, we had companies all over the place. Tourism Kitchen, Kwara Investment and Development Company, Patigi Regatta Hotel, all these companies were just all over the place. What the governor decided to do was to bring all these companies under one umbrella so that they would be better managed through a private sector approach. They would be better managed, they would turn in profit so that our IGR would improve.

"Harmony Holdings Limited is owned 100 per cent by the Kwara State Government and it is managed by Kwarans. Chairman of that company is the Emir of Ilesha Baruba in Baruten right now, Professor Mohammed Haliru, he's a Kwaran.