The Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Trust Development Fund, Dr Bello Aliyu Gusau, has been accused of awarding fraudulent contracts without recourse to procedure and due process.
He was also accused of nepotism, marginalisation and diversion of agency funds into private pockets.
Sources told SaharaReporters that since the appointment of Gusau in 2016, it had been a regime of indiscriminate awards of contracts to persons that either did not bid for contracts that the PTDF did not advertise.
According to them, Gusau has abused all known procurement regulations in the agency.
“Dr Gusau has turned the PTDF to an extension of his state where only his kinsmen are seen clutching files and folders from the procurement department. There are also instances where the ES kinsmen recommend who gets what from the PTDF. It is such an eyesore as it stands. If urgent steps are not taken, the PTDF might end up in a not too pleasant manner considering the strategic importance of its operations in the oil and gas sector in Nigeria,” one of the sources said.
He further added that the Executive Secretary has formed the habit of bragging about his untouchable status in the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.
“He usually brags about his connection in the corridors of power and how he also has unhindered access to the President. It is quite sad because Yusuf has turned tyrant in the administration of the PTDF.”
Another source stated that the Executive Secretary has been using resources from the PTDF to finance political activities in his home state.
He added that Yusuf has turned to a political cash-cow for politicians from his state.
“From all indications, it seems the ES has political ambition, or he is sponsoring a political party or candidate in his home state. This is largely responsible for how he has turned the PTDF into an extension of his state. He has also formed the habit of awarding scholarships to select people, mostly from his state,” he told SaharaReporters.
“With the way things are going at the PTDF, Nigeria might soon experience an embarrassment from foreign institutions where Nigerian students are on scholarship due to non-payment of tuition.
“We are on the verge of experiencing an embarrassment of unimaginable proportion. You won’t believe that the PTDF has not met her obligations with foreign tertiary institutions where you have our students. The ES has diverted monies meant for tuition payment as it stands.
“Since the ES was reappointed, the PTDF has defaulted severally on these payments, not because of lack of funds, but rather the mismanagement of resources by the ES and his cronies. I am afraid that things are not going to change anytime soon with the attitude of the ES with regards to the resources of the organization,” the source added.
SaharaReporters learnt that recruitment into the agency had been contracted to a firm owned by some cronies of Yusuf.
“I know one of those recently employed that didn’t attend any interview, but her dad, a close friend of the ES of PTDF, brought home her letter of employment and asked her to resume work.
“She told me she didn’t apply for a job at the PTDF. But her dad came home with a letter of employment and asked me to resume, which she did.”
Another staff added that the Executive Secretary has succeeded in rubbishing “whatever structure left in the organisation”.
He noted that Yusuf runs the PTDF as a private company where he decides who gets what and when.
“It is most unfortunate that a man could be so brazen in recklessness. He does whatever he wants with the finances of the organisation. He dishes out overinflated contracts to only his kinsmen and many other anomalies that defeat common sense,” he said.
“Dr Bello Gusau is a monumental embarrassment. The general public should not be deceived by his media grandstanding. We gathered that he has recently engaged the services of a public relations firm to launder his image in the media, all in a bid to cover up for his gross abuse office.
“I think the honourable thing for him to do is to resign from office because his atrocities are innumerable, as well as despicable. Nigerians should watch out in the days ahead; I am sure more of the rot in the TDF under Dr Bello Gusau would come in the public space,” he added.
President Buhari had in September 2020 renewed the appointment of Gusau.