Unperturbed By APC Ticket Loss, Senator Mandiya Sustains Constituency Projects

Francis Sardauna writes that Senator Bello Mandiya representing Katsina South Senatorial District in the National Assembly has continued to execute constituency projects despite losing APC re-election ticket.

The concept of constituency projects has been very controversial in the country, as many Nigerians perceive it as an avenue for lawmakers to syphon public funds. Many constituents have been denied the use of these otherwise life-changing projects because most of their representatives have thoroughly abused the initiative turning it into veritable conduits for financial misappropriation.

The perception is such that in November, 2022, the Presidency had very hot exchanges with lawmakers at both lower and upper chambers of the National Assembly following President Muhammadu Buhari’s comments that there was little to show for over N1 trillion budgeted for constituency projects of the National Assembly members in the last 10 years.

But Senator Bello Mandiya has changed the narratives in Katsina South Senatorial District, through the execution of life-changing constituency projects across 11 Local Government Areas of the senatorial zone.

He had successfully spread developmental projects across the nooks and crannies of the constituency in tune with the needs and aspirations of the constituents.
Elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2019, Mandiya’s political trajectory has seemingly followed the belief that democracy and excellence are more important than political convenience and expedience.

He has moved according to his convictions regarding the opportunity to show excellence, thereby bringing exceptional dividends of democracy to the doorsteps of his people, especially the downtrodden.

His political dexterity, competency, integrity and ability to deliver change and promise brought about a perfect arrangement that effectively and efficiently addressed the humanitarian needs of the electorate as well as the delicate political equation in the senatorial zone where the incumbent Governor of the state, Aminu Bello Masari, hails from.

Despite losing the APC re-election ticket to Hon. Muntari Dandutse during primaries, Senator Mandiya has continued to impact positively and transform people’s lives, particularly the vulnerable in villages and communities across the senatorial district. He has also exhibited the courage to speak truth, challenge national and state policies and decisions which tend to exploit the people.

In the education sector for instance, Senator Mandiya has constructed one-block of six classrooms and equipped them with modern furniture at Government Girls Secondary School, Kafur. He also donated a 16-seater bus to the management of the school to ease transportation difficulties in the school. One-block of three classrooms was also constructed by the Senator at Government Girls Secondary School (GGSS), Danja, in Danja local government area of the state.

In his magnanimity to improve and sustain education among rural dwellers in the zone, Mandiya constructed six upstairs classrooms at Government Girls Day Secondary School, Malumfashi, one-block of two classrooms at Marmara village, one-block of three classrooms with furniture at Maijanlaili and fenced Aliyu Primary School, Malunfashi.

Other educational projects executed by the Senator includes the construction of one-block of three classrooms at Gida Bakwai village in Faskari local government area of the state with state-of-the-art learning facilities, construction of one-block of two classrooms with furniture and total rehabilitation of Iro-Maikano Islamic school in Matazu, the headquarters of Matazu local government. He constructed another one-block of two classrooms at Mararaban-Musawa.

Another important project that even his critics will reluctantly admit, is the construction and equipping of Malumfashi Entrepreneurship and Development Centre with modern training facilities worth millions of naira, with the sole aim of making youths and women in the senatorial zone self-reliant instead of over-depending on government for white-collar jobs.

The skills acquisition centre, which has tailoring, exhibition, shoes and bags making, building workshop, electricity, ICT and internet, blocks producing and hairdressing departments with all the equipments needed for take-off, has a befitting 400-capacity events’ auditorium, well-furnished with furniture and conveniences as well as a three-bed capacity clinic and staff offices.

In the area of healthcare delivery, he renovated the Administrative block, Outpatient Department (OPD) and Pharmaceutical department of Maternal and Child’s Hospital, Malumfashi with modern medical apparatus. Senator Bello Mandiya also installed a solar mini grids of 150 megawatt and 120 megawatt at General Hospitals Funtua and Malumfashi. He also donated a Hiace Hummer ambulance to Malumfashi General Hospital, built VIP latrines at Kankara General Hospital, among other notable projects.

Realizing the importance of farmers to food production and sufficiency in the country, Senator Mandiya has distributed 16,500 bags of NPK/UREA fertiliser and 2,156 water pumping machines to wet season and irrigation farmers across the 11 local governments of the senatorial zone. Similarly, 440 tube wells have been constructed by the Senator for irrigation farmers and 6,000 have been trained in agricultural entrepreneurship from across the 11 local government areas.

As part of efforts to tackle banditry in the state, the ‘People’s Senator’ has built and equipped six-unit transit house for security agencies in Malumfashi town, procured and installed 650 security lights on streets across the town and donated 85 motorcycles to security operatives in the local government. He equally renovated Police Area Command offices in Malumfashi and Funtua local government areas.

In water supply and hygiene, the Senator has constructed over 284 solar-powered and hand-boreholes across political wards in Bakori, Kafur, Funtua, Malumfashi, Danja, Faskari, Dandume, Musawa, Matazu, Kankara and Musawa local government areas. He renovated and upgraded Musawa and Dayi Dams as well as the construction of 4,500 erosion control drainages in Malumfashi, Funtua, Danja, Kafur, Matazu and Dandume respectively to tackle ecological challenges in the areas.

Also, a total of 1,463 motorcycles, 1,026 grinding machines and 202 deep freezers have been disbursed to constituents, comprising youths, traditional and religious leaders, APC wards chairmen and party chieftains, while 1,570 solar-powered street lights have been installed across villages and towns in the 11 local governments that made up the zone.

He surface-dressed 27.4 kilometres of township roads in Malumfashi and Funtua local governments. He trained and empowered 865 people in different vocational and entrepreneurship skills ranging from fishing, poultry, farming, catering, mechanical engineering, among other constituency projects that cut across the Katsina South senatorial district.

As Mandiya prepares to leave the Senate, the song on the lips of his constituents is: ‘My Constituency, My projects’.

“The people of Katsina South will always be extremely grateful to him, because each and every time we are faced with difficulties, he has always been the first to take a stance, aside from hundreds of projects he has executed here”. Adamu Usman, one of the constituents said.

Therefore, numerous people-oriented projects and exemplary leadership style had distinguished Senator Mandiya among his peers in the state. Perhaps, this prompted Governor Aminu Bello Masari to laud him over what he termed impactful representation of the Senator in the National Assembly despite paucity of funds.

“I am very proud of Senator Bello Mandiya because he has demonstrated political capacity and commitment as Senator of Katsina South by implementing meaningful projects in the senatorial zone”, Governor Masari said while inaugurating some of the projects in Malumfashi recently.

While describing Mandiya as an outstanding Senator, Masari added that: “In Malumfashi, he has installed a power plant at the General Hospital, skill acquisition centre and provided all the equipment needed there. You saw what he did in schools by renovating, furnishing and upgrading over 40 classrooms. It is something good that I am really proud of”.

In spite of all the constituency projects and encomiums showered on Mandiya by some of his constituents, pundits however said, his political enemies otherwise known as ‘3 white-elephants’ from the zone reportedly hijacked the party’s structure hence his inability to clinch the ticket during primary that produced Hon. Muntari Dandutse.

Other than the belittling bread and butter politics at the grassroot level where representatives stifle progress in their constituencies in a bid to oil the party machinery, very little can be said of the APC senatorial candidate in the zone that is ‘worthy of serious attention’.

“Mandiya did not get APC ticket because the entire party’s structure was under the control of those who called themselves 3-white-elephants”, an APC bigwig said
The source further said: “Some of them are money-mongers so they were expecting Senator Bello Mandiya to give them the constituency money rather than executing the projects he has done. But he refused that’s why they denied him the party’s ticket. I assured you God of Mandiya will not let him down”.
For what it’s worth, no one is suggesting the incumbent stays in perpetuity.

Thus, Senator Mandiya despite losing the APC ticket, thousands of his constituents have thrown their weight behind him because of his determination, capacity, exposure and commitment which had led them out of their predicaments.