Canadians should exercise caution when consuming alcohol in Nigeria following reports of deaths and casualties linked to methanol-contaminated booze, government officials said Tuesday.
In a safety notice on Tuesday, Canadian officials said, “Casualties have occurred in Nigeria due to the consumption of unregulated and adulterated alcohol containing high levels of methanol. Buy alcohol from reputable establishments and seek medical assistance if you begin to feel sick.”
It did not provide details on the number of casualties.
Last week, Nigerian health officials said 48 people had died, and around 180 others were receiving treatment in the southwestern Ondo state after consuming a locally brewed alcoholic beverage suspected of containing methanol, a highly toxic substance that can cause multiple organ failure and inhibit breathing.
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“I took like two shots and I went out on Friday. On Saturday, I noticed that I could not see,” 32-year-old Sola Adebayo told the local TVC News channel from a hospital bed, the AP reported.
It is common to drink homemade alcohol in Nigeria, especially in rural areas where it is more affordable and its production is not well-regulated.
“This thing happened rapidly. Once they consume it, depending on the quantity, the kidneys will pack up, the eyes will go, the brain will be damaged,” Banji Ajaka, Ondo state’s commissioner for health, told The Associated Press, speaking about the drink.
Fifteen people were arrested in connection with the toxic concoction, Ondo state police spokesman Abayomi Jimoh said in a statement.
Locals told the AP they suspected a popular alcoholic herbal drink known as “Monkey Tail” was mixed with methanol, causing the deaths.
Nigeria’s National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has enforced a nationwide ban on alcohol sold in sachets and small plastic containers.
Methanol is a clear, colourless alcohol used in all kinds of everyday products like industrial cleaners, solvents, paint, cosmetics and anti-freeze.
It is sometimes added to mixed drinks at disreputable bars as a cheaper alternative to ethanol, but it can cause severe poisoning or death. It is also a byproduct of poorly distilled homebrew liquor and could have found its way into bar drinks inadvertently.
Methanol poisonings occur globally and have led to the deaths of young backpackers drinking at local bars.
In 2024, Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones, 19, died after they were served tainted alcohol laced with methanol at the Nana Backpacker Hostel in Laos in November 2024, part of a mass poisoning that also killed two Danish women, Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, and Freja Vennervald Sorensen, 21; a U.S. tourist, James Louis Hutson, 57; and a British woman, Simone White, 28.
The two 19-year-old Australian women fell ill following a night out drinking with a group and failed to check out of the Nana Backpacker Hostel as planned. The women were found sick in their room and then taken to Thailand for emergency treatment, where both died in hospital.
Thai authorities confirmed that Jones had died by “brain swelling due to high levels of methanol found in her system.”
— with files from Global News’ Katie Scott and the Associated Press.
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