Bomba Dauda
The Ribang (Mbang) community in Kauru Local Government Area of Kaduna State is observing a somber anniversary today, marking one year since the tragic drowning of six schoolchildren in the Ribang River—a loss that continues to haunt families and ignite calls for long-overdue infrastructure development.
On a rainy afternoon in June 2024, six Junior Secondary School students from Ribang drowned while returning home from their Junior WAEC examinations. Their deaths sent shockwaves across Southern Kaduna and exposed the severe infrastructural neglect plaguing the rural community, including the lack of roads, bridges, schools, and healthcare facilities.
In the aftermath, political leaders and state officials visited the grieving community, offering condolences and making public promises to improve the area’s basic infrastructure. But as of today—one year later—none of those pledges have materialized.
“We lost more than children that day. We lost our future. And we are still waiting for the promises made in our time of grief to become reality,” said Comrade Simon Ishaku Chinge, National Public Relations Officer of the Ribang Community, in a statement released Tuesday.
Despite the widespread outcry and the attention the tragedy received, visible government intervention has been minimal. However, in what community leaders have called a “glimmer of hope,” officials from the Kaduna State Ministry of Works visited Ribang three weeks ago to conduct a preliminary survey of the river and surrounding road networks. The visit was reportedly directed by Governor Uba Sani.
While welcoming this gesture, community members stress that more immediate and tangible steps are needed.
“As the rainy season begins again, our fears also return. Without a bridge, without safe roads, the Ribang River is once again a deadly obstacle for our children, our women, and our elders,” the statement read.
The Ribang community is renewing its appeal to local, state, and federal leaders, as well as humanitarian and development organizations, to assist in providing critical infrastructure, including:
A standard bridge across the Ribang River
Motorable roads connecting Ribang to neighboring towns
A functional primary healthcare center
At least one standard primary and secondary school
In particular, the community called upon key representatives of the area to take urgent action, including:
Senator Sunday Marshall Katung (Southern Kaduna Senatorial District)
Hon. Murtar Zakari Chawai (Member, House of Representatives, Kauru Federal Constituency)
Hon. Barnabas Maigona (Member, Kaduna State House of Assembly, Kauru Constituency)
Hon. Bashir Tanko Dawaki (Chairman, Kauru Local Government Area)
Comrade Chinge emphasized that while condolences and visits were appreciated, the time has come for those in power to fulfill their obligations. “No community should be forgotten. Not in a nation that claims to stand for unity and progress,” he said.
As Ribang remembers its six lost children, the community’s message is clear: the time for promises is over—the time for action is now.
