Nigeria’s collapsing health sector: How a rising music star died of snakebite and lack of anti-venom

By Eteteonline

There has been an outpouring of mourning following Nigerian music singer Ifunanya Nwangene. She was apparently bitten by a snake in her room in Abuja while asleep. According to reports, the extremely gifted 26-year-old musician and vocalist passed away in an Abuja hospital on Saturday, January 31, due to a lack of anti-venom.

Nwangene, a soprano vocalist with the Amemuso Choir, passed suddenly on Saturday at the Federal Medical Centre, Abuja. The Amemuso Choir confirmed her death in a statement made on Sunday afternoon and signed by its Music Director, Sam Ezugwu.

The choir noted that she was about to share her talent with a larger audience and characterized her passing as a significant loss to Abuja’s expanding music industry.

“We regret to announce the sudden demise of our beloved soprano, Ifunanya Nwangene, who passed away yesterday, 31st January 2026, at the Federal Medical Centre due to a snake bite,” the message read in part.

“A rising star, Ifunanya was on the cusp of sharing her incredible talent with the world.

The letter went on to say, “Her voice and spirit will be deeply missed,” and it promised to make funeral plans public later.

Nwangene went on the Voice of Nigeria’s third season in 2021 and impressed the judges with a version of Rihanna’s “Take a Bow” at the blind audition.

The health industry in Nigeria has, in recent years, come under national and international criticism when a prominent Nigerian novelist, Chima Amanda-Adichie, lost her 21-month-old baby purportedly owing to medical neglect.

Recently, the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria has sounded the alarm over the deteriorating situation of the country’s health sector, citing infrastructural deficits, inadequate human resources, and under-funding as major issues.

Other issues in Nigeria’s health industry include low wages, difficult working conditions, absenteeism, brain drain, a lack of devotion to duty, corruption, world-class teaching hospitals now unable to perform basic services, a faltering insurance system, and policy inconsistencies.

In October 2017, the former First Lady, Aisha Buhari, openly criticized the management of the State House Medical Centre for lacking essential equipment and supplies, including syringes and paracetamol.