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By Victoria Fakiya
Lagos, Nigeria: Uber has officially pulled the plug on its ride-hailing operations in Nigeria and Uganda, effective yesterday, September 2, 2026. After 12 years in Nigeria and 10 years in Uganda, the company says it made the decision after reviewing its business priorities and where it wants to invest across Africa.
Uber says it will continue operating in its other African markets, so this isn’t a continent-wide retreat. For affected drivers, the company says it is communicating transition arrangements, including a token of appreciation for active drivers, while rider support will remain available for 21 days.
For Nigeria, this is the end of a pretty long run. Uber launched in Lagos in 2014, at a time when ordering a taxi from your phone still felt like a novelty. It later expanded into cities including Abuja, Ibadan, Benin, Port Harcourt, Kano, Enugu, Warri, Uyo, and Owerri.
By 2023, Uber said its Nigerian operations had contributed about ₦34 billion to the economy, while drivers earned an additional ₦6.1 billion compared with what they might have made elsewhere.
But the market has changed considerably since then, with Bolt, inDrive, and local operators competing for the same drivers and riders.
Well, Nigeria’s ride-hailing business has become more difficult as fuel prices, inflation, and naira volatility have pushed up operating costs. And just weeks before Uber’s exit, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) on July 30th directed airport managers to stop Uber and Bolt from operating commercially at its managed airports until licence agreements were finalised.
The decision caused a backlash over higher airport fares, and Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo intervened on August 27, after which Bolt was cleared to resume. Uber, however, has specifically said its exit from Nigeria is not related to the FAAN directive.
Nigeria and Uganda are not the first African markets Uber has abandoned recently. In September 2025, it exited Côte d’Ivoire after about six years, and in February 2026, it pulled out of Tanzania.
The company is now becoming more selective about where it puts its money and attention, even as competition across African ride-hailing markets intensifies. Uganda, where Uber launched in Kampala in 2016, has also developed a crowded market featuring SafeBoda, Faras, and Yango.
And the African exits are happening as Uber itself goes through a much bigger reset. On September 2, 2026, the company also announced plans to cut roughly 3,300 corporate jobs, about 10% of its workforce, as CEO Dara Khosrowshahi looks to simplify the business and redirect resources towards growth areas, particularly autonomous vehicles.
So while Uber says it still sees “robust growth and long-term opportunity” in Sub-Saharan Africa, its latest moves suggest that it is becoming much more deliberate about which markets are worth continued investment.
For Nigeria, that leaves Bolt and other rivals with a much bigger opportunity, and Uber drivers and riders with one fewer major platform to choose from.
