Nigeria is mourning the tragic loss of aspiring singer Ifunanya Nwangene, who passed away on Saturday after a snake bite in Abuja. The 26-year-old gained national attention in 2021 when she competed on The Voice Nigeria, showcasing her remarkable ability to fuse jazz, opera, classical, and soul. Social media footage captures a snake handler extracting the reptile from her apartment, with onlookers shouting, “It is a cobra!” Her close friend, Sam Ezugwu—co-founder and music director of the Amemuso Choir, where she performed—described Nwangene as a “rising star.”
He said she had been planning to stage her first solo concert later this year. She was also a trained architect. Hillary Obinna, another friend who sang alongside her, told the BBC he was told she had been asleep when “the snake bite woke her up”. He said that two snakes were later found in the house. She first sought treatment at a nearby clinic but they did not have any antivenom so she went to a hospital.
Ezugwu said he rushed to the hospital on Saturday after learning that she had been taken there. He said the hospital had one of the required antivenoms but not the other. “While they were trying to stabilise her, she could not speak but she could make hand gestures. She was struggling to breathe,” he added.
Ezugwu said he drove out to search for the missing antivenom but returned to find that she had died. He said the entire choir went to the hospital that evening, “hoping that a miracle would happen”. In a statement, the hospital denied that the venom had been unavailable and said claims its response had been inadequate were “unfounded and do not reflect the reality of the situation”.
The Federal Medical Centre, Jabi said on Sunday: “Our medical staff provided immediate and appropriate treatment, including resuscitation efforts, intravenous fluids, intranasal oxygen, and the administration of polyvalent snake antivenom.”
It said a “thorough but quick” assessment showed Nwangene had suffered severe complications from the bite. Her condition suddenly deteriorated prior to a transfer to intensive care, it added, and medics had been “unable to revive her”.
“We stand by the quality of care and dedication our team demonstrates daily.”
Obinna described her friend as “a very wonderful girl, she is humble – very intelligent and very talented”.
“Everybody is shattered. We could not sleep at night.”
Nwangene’s death comes amid a renewed debate in Nigeria about the quality of healthcare and patient safety, following a series of allegations of medical negligence.
These include the recent death of novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s 21-month-old son. The hospital in that case has denied any wrongdoing.
In response to the public outcry, Nigeria’s health minister has acknowledged “systemic challenges” in the health system and announced the creation of a national task force on “clinical governance and patient safety”.
Most snake bite victims in Nigeria are believed to live in rural areas and many Nigerians are shocked at Nwangene’s death in an upmarket part of the capital.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says venomous snakebites are a neglected public health issue in many tropical and subtropical countries.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Africa records between 435,000 and 580,000 snakebites requiring medical treatment each year. The impact is felt most acutely by women, children, and farmers in rural areas, where healthcare systems are weakest and resources are scarce.
In sub-Saharan Africa alone, snakebites are responsible for an estimated 30,000 deaths annually, though experts believe the true toll may be far higher. A critical shortage of antivenom makes it difficult to gauge the full scale of the crisis, as many victims turn to traditional healers, leaving cases undocumented. Even when antivenom is available, prohibitive costs and storage challenges—particularly the need for refrigeration in regions with unreliable electricity—limit access and effectiveness
Source: BBC
