'I dey catch snakes and some Africans dey call me witch' - Nigerian lady wey dey rescue snakes

For Nigeria, cases of snake bite dey common even though plenti of dem no make am to di news, especially for remote areas, but young Taiwo Okikiola dey raise awareness about dis reptile and dia medical benefits.

Snakebite no be somtin wey pipo go like experience, especially for Africa sake of anti-venom wey victims fit no quickly get.

Some pipo no even like to see snakes for dia environment and anytime dem see am, na to kill am straight.

But for Okikiola, she believe say snakes get dia benefit and dem need to dey protected for medical purposes.

She prefer to describe hersef as herpetologist, pesin wey study reptiles and oda amphibians. She dey catch snake, rescue am and release am back to di wild.

According to Nigeria Snakebite Research and Intervention Centre, dem document say Nigeria dey record average of 20,000 cases of snake bites evri year.

And wit about 2,000 wey dey die from snakebite evri year, Nigeria lack access to antivenom.

For Okikiola, her aim na to preserve snakes so dem go exist to make antivenom wey go dey useful to save lives of victims of snakebites.

'Snake dey spiritual for healing'

For many Africans, especially Nigerians, one tin wey dey passed down from one generation to di oda na di tori of how dangerous snakes be.

Some even dey associate am wit evil while some see am as bad luck, and wit dat, many pipo no dey like to go close or even rear am.

Okikiola take up di courage to go study about snakes, how to conserve dem and dia behaviours.

While plenti Nigerians no go eva try to get close to snakes, Okikiola get one mission: to change di narrative around snake becos she believe say snake na for healing purposes.

"Snake na one animal wey be say dem dey find food and shelter, so na why we dey see dem around our houses. If una check all di medical healing symbols, you go find say snake dey dia. Snake dey spiritual for healing."

Okikiola say she don dey see snakes different from oda animals and for ova 5 years now, she dey learn about di reptiles, di different kain and how dem dey behave.

But she also dey face some challenges wey include yabbing wey pipo dey sama her wen dem sabi say she sabi control and handle snakes.

"Na why be say if oda Africans see me, dem go dey call me witch, if neighbours no call me witch, online pipo go tell me say somtin dey do me, but na me know wetin I dey do, and na for benefit of all of us."

"No be only say I wan dey conserve snakes, I wan change di narrative wey dey around dem, but di ones wey dey venomous wey dey kpai pipo for Nigeria too dey risky."

"Antivenom suppose dey evri primary healthcenter"

Okikiola mission no be just to conserve snakes, she also dey chook eyes into how Nigeria fit begin get antivenom for di kontri.

For January 2026, Nigerians on social media mourn di death of fast-rising singer Ifunanya Nwagene wey pipo sabi as Nanyah.

Tori be say snake bin bite di 26-year-old lady for her house and she bin make effort to save her life by rushing hersef to two different hospitals for urgent medical attention.

Social media users bin claim say di hospitals turn di young lady away becos dem no get anti-venom for dia facilities.

Dis raise di issue of antivenom for Nigeria, and Okikiola say different snakes dey produce different venom - and medical pipo no fit administer same antivenom for different snakebite victims.

She say to sabi di kain antivenom to produce or administer, you gatz understand di kain snake wey e be first.

Access to antivenom na still big case for Nigeria, as e fit no dey available for most primary health centres wey be di closest medical facility to di pipo.

"For 2026, e dey surprising say kontri wey be giant of Africa still dey kpai from snakebites, and I dey sorry say una no even get common antivenom for primary health centre or pharmacy."

For 2017, Nigeria spend US$192,000 for snakebite program, but many say e still no dey enough to attend to di millions of affected patients, especially for rural and remote areas.

South Africa na di leading producer of antivenom for Africa as dem also get about 150 species of snakes but Okikiola say different antivenoms dey for different snakebites.

World Health Organisation say 5.4 million pipo dey experience snakebite all ova di world wit about 81,410 deaths per year wit three times disability sake of di snake bites.

If Nigeria go solve di issue of snakebites or reduce di death from am, di kontri go gatz focus on how to dey produce antivenom and make am available to pipo especially for rural areas wia snakebites dey common.

"Na dis reasons dey make me dey push harder say by force we gatz get laboratories wey dey produce antivenom, so we go stop to dey import."