Ifunanya Nwangene, a 26-year-old singer with a growing following, died on Saturday after being bitten by a snake in her apartment in Abuja. Her death has drawn an outpouring of grief and renewed scrutiny of emergency medical care in the country’s capital.
Ms Nwangene was best known to the public for her appearance on The Voice Nigeria in 2021, where she stood out for a rare range that moved easily between jazz, opera, classical music and soul. Friends say she had been preparing for her first solo concert later this year.
“She was a rising star,” said Sam Ezugwu, a close friend and the co-founder and music director of the Amemuso Choir, where she sang. “We all believed her moment was coming.”
Videos circulating online show a snake handler removing a snake from her apartment as neighbours shout in alarm. One voice can be heard yelling that it was a cobra.
Another friend, Hillary Obinna, who also performed with Ms Nwangene, said she had been asleep when the incident occurred.
“The snake bite woke her up,” he said, adding that two snakes were later found in the house.
After the bite, Ms Nwangene was taken to a nearby clinic, according to friends, but it did not have antivenom. She was then rushed to a hospital.
Mr Ezugwu said he arrived at the hospital shortly after learning she had been admitted. He said staff had one type of antivenom but not another that was also required.
“While they were trying to stabilise her, she couldn’t speak,” he said. “She could only make hand gestures. She was struggling to breathe.”
He said he left the hospital to search for the missing antivenom, but by the time he returned, she had died. Members of the choir gathered at the hospital that evening, he said, “hoping that a miracle would happen”.
The hospital, the Federal Medical Centre in Jabi, has strongly rejected claims that antivenom was unavailable or that its response was inadequate.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the centre said its staff provided “immediate and appropriate treatment”, including resuscitation efforts, oxygen and the administration of polyvalent snake antivenom. Doctors carried out a rapid assessment, it said, but Ms Nwangene suffered severe complications and her condition worsened suddenly before she could be transferred to intensive care.
“We stand by the quality of care and dedication our team demonstrates daily,” the hospital said.
Friends and colleagues, however, remain devastated.
“She was humble, intelligent and extremely talented,” Mr Obinna said. “Everybody is shattered. We couldn’t sleep.”
Ms Nwangene’s death has come at a sensitive moment in Nigeria, where public debate about healthcare standards and patient safety has intensified following a series of high-profile cases. The health ministry has acknowledged long-standing weaknesses in the system and recently announced the creation of a national task force focused on clinical governance and patient safety.
What has shocked many Nigerians is not only the loss of a young artist, but where it happened. Snake bites are usually associated with rural areas, yet this occurred in an upmarket part of the capital.
The World Health Organization describes venomous snake bites as a neglected public health issue in many tropical countries. In Africa, it estimates that hundreds of thousands of people are bitten each year, with tens of thousands dying most of them in rural communities with limited access to care.
Experts say shortages of antivenom, high costs and difficulties with storage mean many cases go untreated or unrecorded. Even where supplies exist, reaching them in time can be a matter of life and death.
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