At least 48 people have died and more than 100 others have fallen ill in southern Nigeria after drinking a locally brewed alcoholic beverage suspected of containing methanol, officials said on Thursday.
The deaths and illnesses were reported in Ondo state’s Odigbo and Irele local government areas, where health officials say a total of 182 people are believed to have been affected. About 100 of those affected are receiving treatment, while others remain under medical observation.
A rapid and devastating poisoning
Banji Ajaka, Ondo state’s commissioner for health, said the outbreak had unfolded quickly after people consumed the suspected contaminated drink. Methanol poisoning is particularly feared because it can cause blindness, kidney failure, neurological damage and death, sometimes after only a small amount has been consumed.
“This thing happened rapidly. Once they consume, depending on the quantity, the kidneys will pack up, the eyes will go, the brain will be damaged,” Ajaka told The Associated Press.
One survivor, 32-year-old Sola Adebayo, described the sudden onset of symptoms after drinking what he believed to be a familiar local spirit.
“I took like two shots and I went out on Friday. On Saturday, I noticed that I could not see,” Adebayo told local TVC News from his hospital bed.
His account underlines the particular cruelty of methanol contamination: the danger may not be immediately obvious, but the consequences can be severe and irreversible. In communities where locally produced alcohol is part of everyday social life, trust in a drink’s origin can prove fatal when production falls outside effective regulation.
Police arrests as suspicion turns to Monkey Tail
Ondo state police spokesperson Abayomi Jimoh said 15 people had been arrested in connection with the incident. Among them, police said, was one person allegedly “involved in the production of substances suspected to contain methanol and is currently assisting the police with investigations.”
Local residents told The Associated Press that they suspected a popular herbal alcoholic drink known as “Monkey Tail” had been adulterated with methanol. The drink is known for its high alcohol content and is sold in some rural and semi-urban communities, where informal alcohol production remains widespread.
A trader who sells the drink in Odigbo, speaking anonymously because of fears of arrest, said there are two versions of Monkey Tail: an original version considered safe by locals, and another version regarded as unsafe. The trader’s comments have not been independently verified, but they point to a wider problem in informal alcohol markets, where appearance, branding and reputation may offer little protection against contamination.
Local media reports said the first death was recorded nearly two weeks ago, suggesting the suspected poisoning circulated for some time before the scale of the tragedy became clear.
A familiar risk in rural Nigeria
The consumption of locally made alcohol is common in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, particularly in rural areas where such drinks are cheaper and regulation is often limited. For many consumers, informal alcohol is not an exotic choice but an accessible one: affordable, familiar and woven into local commerce.
That affordability, however, can come with hidden risks. Unregulated production may involve poor distillation practices, contaminated ingredients or deliberate adulteration. Methanol, which is sometimes used in industrial products, can enter illicit alcohol supply chains when producers seek to increase potency, cut costs or stretch limited stocks.
Public health officials have long warned that such outbreaks are not merely isolated criminal incidents. They are also symptoms of a fragile regulatory environment in which consumers may have few reliable ways to distinguish safe products from dangerous ones.
In Nigeria, the issue is made more complex by the scale of the country and the reach of informal markets. A drink produced in one community can move quickly through local networks, especially where enforcement is uneven and buyers rely on personal trust rather than formal labelling.
National concern over packaged alcohol
The tragedy comes as Nigeria’s National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control enforces a nationwide ban on alcohol sold in sachets and small plastic containers. The agency has said such packaging is too easily accessible to children and young people, raising concerns about underage drinking and accidental consumption.
The ban reflects a broader tension across public health policy: how to control dangerous products without pushing consumers further into unregulated markets. In the case of locally brewed spirits, prohibition or packaging restrictions may reduce some risks, but they do not automatically eliminate the demand for cheap alcohol or the networks that supply it.
For Ondo state, the immediate task is medical and investigative: treating survivors, identifying the source of contamination and determining how widely the suspected drink was distributed. For families in Odigbo and Irele, the human cost is already stark. Dozens are dead, many more are ill, and some survivors may face lasting harm.
Why it Matters
This latest suspected methanol poisoning is a grim reminder that alcohol-related public health crises often thrive in the gap between poverty, informality and weak oversight. In rural Nigeria, where locally brewed drinks are affordable and deeply embedded in daily life, a single contaminated batch can move faster than official response and leave hospitals to manage the consequences. The arrests and regulatory measures announced after the deaths may help establish accountability, but they will not be enough on their own; preventing similar tragedies will require stronger monitoring of informal alcohol production, clearer public warnings, accessible healthcare, and safer alternatives for consumers who currently have few choices beyond unregulated spirits.
