Nigeria’s crime market in 2025 was led by illegal lab-made drugs (otherwise called synthetic drugs), which scored 8.5 out of 10, the highest among all the criminal markets considered.
But the bigger story is not just one market. It is the depth and spread of Nigeria’s illicit economy. Human trafficking, extortion and racketeering, arms trafficking, counterfeit goods, non-renewable resource crimes, and financial crimes all scored 8.0, meaning several major criminal markets are operating at severe levels simultaneously.
Illegal lab-made drugs stand out because Nigeria has become more deeply linked to synthetic-drug production and trafficking routes.
UNODC’s Nigeria country programme says Nigeria’s methamphetamine (a synthetic drug) production capacity has risen by more than 40% since 2020, while seizures of synthetic drugs have also increased. Recent National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) operations reinforce that pattern; in late 2025, the Agency announced a ₦6.7 billion opioid and codeine warehouse bust in Lagos.
