We won’t hand over tertiary institutions to Harmony holdings

The Kwara State Government has again denied rumours of a plan to transfer the management of the state-owned tertiary institutions to Harmony Holdings Limited, a fully-owned holding company.

It also clarified that the state is not among those owing the West African Examination Council (WEAC) examination fees.

The state Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communications, Dr. Muyideen Akorede, said Harmony Holdings Limited was established to management the state government's dormant assets fully or partly owned companies.

He added that the company doesn't have the mandate to take over any state-owned tertairy institution.

The governor said all government owned tertiary institutions were established by law and could not be handed over to Harmony Holdings Limited or any other body without recourse to the state House of Assembly and the people of Kwara State through a public hearing.

He, however, called on the public to ignore the rumour, which he said, was sponsored ''by those seeking to destract the successes achieved by Harmony Holdings Limited since its inception''.

Continuing, the governor said Harmony Holdings has turned around the fortunes of companies under its management and had since started paying dividend to the state government which owns the company 100 pr cent.

Also, he clarified that the state was not among the 19 states owing N4b in unpaid fees to the examination body, WEAC, adding that the final year Senior Secondary School students in the state had for years sat for National Examinations Council (NECO) examinations instead of WEAC.

His government, he explained, recently paid N78m as examination fees to NECO and assured students and parents in the state that no results will be withheld by the examination body on account of non-payment of fees.

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