Laboratory testing found high methanol concentrations in drinks linked to 182 cases in Ondo State, while a separate enforcement operation removed prohibited sachet alcohol and sub-200ml PET bottles from three Lagos markets.
NIGERIA – Nigeria’s food and drug regulator has seized alcoholic drinks valued at an estimated ₦300 million during raids in Lagos, weeks after laboratory testing linked high-methanol alcoholic and herbal concoctions to 48 deaths in Ondo State.
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control announced on 4 October 2026 that its officers had removed several cartons of alcoholic drinks packaged in sachets and polyethylene terephthalate bottles below 200 millilitres from three Lagos markets.
The developments concern two separate alcohol-control problems. The Lagos operation targeted products sold in prohibited packaging, while the Ondo outbreak involved toxic contamination of locally prepared drinks. NAFDAC has not said that the products seized in Lagos contained methanol or were connected to the Ondo cases.
Lagos raids target prohibited alcohol packaging
NAFDAC said its enforcement teams operated at Ile-Epo Market, Ojuwoye Market in Mushin and Oke-Arin Market on Lagos Island.
Distributors and retailers were arrested at Ile-Epo Market, while some outlets were reportedly shut. The agency alleged that some traders had been stockpiling the affected drinks as demand and prices increased.
NAFDAC estimated the value of the seized stock at ₦300 million but did not publish an inventory showing the brands, number of cartons, total volume or method used to calculate that value.
The agency also did not disclose how many people were arrested, what charges they could face or whether any of the products had undergone laboratory testing.
The operation forms part of a nationwide effort to enforce the prohibition on the production, importation, distribution, sale and use of alcoholic beverages in sachets and PET bottles below 200 millilitres.
NAFDAC says the restrictions are intended to reduce the affordability, concealability and easy availability of high-strength alcoholic drinks, particularly among children and young people. It began a nationwide market operation in July 2026 after initially concentrating enforcement on manufacturers.
The latest seizure establishes a breach of packaging restrictions. It does not, on the information released so far, establish that the drinks were counterfeit, adulterated or chemically unsafe.
Methanol confirmed in samples from Ondo
The Ondo incident presents a more immediate toxicological risk.
The outbreak was first reported in early September in communities in Odigbo Local Government Area before cases were also identified in neighbouring Irele.
In a public-health update covering cases recorded up to 17 September, NAFDAC reported 182 affected people and 48 deaths. Ninety patients had been admitted and subsequently discharged, six remained in hospital and 31 had been treated as outpatients.
Five people had lost their sight completely and another two had suffered partial blindness.
Victims reportedly experienced headaches, general weakness and body pain, visual disturbances, breathing difficulties and altered consciousness. Some patients deteriorated rapidly.
NAFDAC subjected 15 unlabelled samples of the locally prepared alcoholic and herbal concoctions to toxicity testing and chemical analysis.
Gas-chromatography testing detected high concentrations of methanol, while 11 of the 15 samples also tested positive for Cannabis indica. Acute oral toxicity testing produced approximately 50 per cent mortality among laboratory mice exposed to six of the samples, according to the regulator.
However, NAFDAC described the findings as preliminary. Further testing was still under way to quantify the methanol concentrations and identify any additional toxic substances.
The regulator has not released the complete laboratory report, individual sample results or information showing where the methanol originated and how it entered the drinks.
Fifteen arrests and a regulatory review
Fifteen people were arrested in connection with the suspected production, sale and distribution of the implicated drinks.
Ondo State Police said one suspect was believed to have produced substances suspected of containing methanol. Fourteen other people, described by police as alleged sellers and consumers, were also arrested during investigations.
The arrests do not establish criminal responsibility. Police said recovered substances and victims’ remains were undergoing forensic and medical examination.
The Ondo State Government has since begun reviewing the rules governing the preparation, production, distribution and sale of locally prepared herbal and alcoholic products.
State Attorney-General Olukayode Ajulo also requested the establishment of a Coroner’s Court to investigate the immediate and underlying causes of the deaths. The government said prosecution decisions would depend on evidence produced by the investigations.
Ondo suffered a similar outbreak in 2015
The latest poisonings are particularly significant because Irele and Odigbo experienced another methanol outbreak in April 2015.
That incident produced 37 identified cases and 27 deaths, representing a case-fatality rate of 73 per cent. Laboratory testing of locally brewed gin and samples collected from patients was consistent with acute methanol poisoning.
Investigators found a strong association between illness and the consumption of locally brewed gin. The World Health Organization supported Nigeria’s federal and state health authorities with surveillance, case identification and community communication during the response.
The recurrence in the same two local government areas raises questions about whether lessons from the 2015 outbreak resulted in lasting controls over informal alcohol production, access to industrial alcohol, product testing and community surveillance.
Two alcohol risks requiring different controls
The Lagos and Ondo developments should not be treated as evidence of a single distribution chain.
Nigeria’s small-pack alcohol prohibition primarily addresses affordability, concealment, underage access and harmful consumption. Methanol poisoning, by contrast, requires controls capable of identifying toxic substitution or contamination before products reach consumers.
Those controls include tracing supplies of industrial methanol and bulk alcohol, licensing and inspecting producers, testing drinks sold through informal channels, rapidly sharing laboratory alerts and ensuring health facilities can recognise and manage methanol poisoning.
The Ondo findings also raise questions about how quickly laboratories can quantify methanol, whether authorities can trace contaminated drinks to their source and what happened to regulatory measures introduced after the 2015 outbreak.
NAFDAC has warned consumers against purchasing or drinking unlicensed, unregistered or locally prepared alcoholic and herbal products whose composition cannot be verified.