Ride-hailing service Uber is set to wind up its operations in Nigeria effective from September 2 following what the company callled a ‘thorough review’ of its business.
Uber said the decision covers Nigeria and Uganda and does not affect its operations elsewhere in Africa. The company said its immediate priority is supporting drivers, riders and local team members through the transition.
Uber, which launched in Nigeria in 2014 was one of the pioneers of ride-hailing in Nigeria before such services drew more investors like Bolt and InDrive. “After a thorough review, we have taken the difficult decision to wind down operations in Nigeria and Uganda, effective September 2, 2026,” Uber said.
The exit comes after Uber was among the e-hailing services recently barred from operating at airports by the Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).
Uber also announced plans to cut approximately 3,300 employees, about 10% of its global workforce, as it simplifies its corporate structure and reduces management layers. Reuters reports that CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the restructuring is intended to make the company more efficient and free resources for growth and innovation, particularly autonomous vehicles.
From Pioneer to Challenger
Uber entered Nigeria in 2014 with the advantages of global scale, technology and first-mover status. Two years later, Taxify, which subsequently became Bolt, entered Lagos and began challenging Uber through aggressive pricing, driver acquisition and geographic expansion.
By March 2019, Taxify had already edged ahead of Uber in a TechCabal survey of Lagos users. Among respondents who used only one of the two services, 22.7% used Taxify compared with 20.7% for Uber. Taxify also recorded a higher preference among respondents who used both platforms.
By 2020, industry data cited by TechNext estimated that Bolt controlled more than 60% of Nigeria’s ride-hailing market, with about 20,000 drivers compared with approximately 10,000 for Uber.
Bolt’s lead subsequently became more entrenched as a 2024 Sagaci Research survey found that 58% of Nigerian ride-hailing users had used Bolt during the preceding 12 months, compared with 34% for Uber. InDrive further added pressure, particularly through its model that allows passengers and drivers to negotiate fares.
The Economics of Ride-hailing Became Harder
The economics of operating a ride-hailing vehicle in Nigeria deteriorated sharply following the removal of the petrol subsidy, subsequent increases in fuel prices and the depreciation of the naira. Drivers faced higher fuel, maintenance, insurance and vehicle-financing costs while passengers remained highly sensitive to fares.
Higher fares can improve driver economics but suppress passenger demand, as such, keeping fares low can preserve demand but make it increasingly difficult for drivers to earn enough to justify remaining on a platform. The resulting pressure has repeatedly produced complaints and protests from Nigerian ride-hailing drivers over fares and operating costs.
The structure of the market makes the problem more complicated because both drivers and passengers can easily switch between platforms with a driver simultaneously operating on Uber, Bolt and InDrive, while a passenger can compare prices across multiple applications before requesting a trip.
Platform Had to Fight Fraud and Gaming
Uber’s Nigerian operation encountered another challenge relatively early: attempts by drivers to manipulate the platform. In Lagos, drivers were reported to have used GPS-spoofing software such as Lockito to make Uber’s system believe vehicles were travelling longer routes than they actually were, increasing passenger fares. The platform also had to deal with drivers insisting on offline rides to earn more and prevent Uber from receiving its commission contributing to Uber loss of revenue.
Ride-hailing companies rely heavily on automated systems to determine fares, allocate drivers, calculate incentives and detect fraud. When users learn to manipulate those systems, platforms face the additional costs of detection, refunds, customer complaints and tighter controls.
Nigeria also became associated with allegations involving fake accounts and self-booked trips designed to exploit Uber’s incentive programmes.
Uber Was Still Generating Substantial Economic Activity
An Uber-commissioned Public First study estimated that the platform contributed ₦34 billion to Nigeria’s economy in 2023. It estimated that drivers earned an additional ₦6.1 billion through using Uber and placed the value of flexibility provided to drivers at another ₦6.3 billion.
The study also estimated that Uber generated nearly ₦930 million for Nigeria’s nighttime economy and contributed ₦5.4 billion in value to tourism.
Uber Technologies however did not separately disclose Nigeria revenue in its public financial statements as Nigeria is included within broader geographic reporting.
Uber’s Moove Bet
Uber led a $100 million funding round in Moove, , the Nigerian-founded mobility company that has expanded from vehicle financing into fleet management and autonomous-mobility infrastructure in March 2024 alongside Mubadala, taking the company’s valuation to approximately $750 million.
In August 2026, Moove raised another $250 million at a $2.1 billion valuation in a round led by Mubadala and co-led by Woven Capital and Ion Pacific. Uber was listed among Moove’s institutional backers alongside BlackRock and other investors.
Moove says it has grown from its initial 76-vehicle launch in Lagos to approximately 42,000 vehicles across 29 cities in 13 countries, with annual recurring revenue of about $420 million.
Uber is therefore abandoning the direct ride-hailing marketplace in Nigeria while a Nigerian-founded mobility company backed by Uber is becoming increasingly involved in the infrastructure supporting the global transition towards autonomous transportation which might point to the fact Uber is not entirely abandoning Nigeria.
Was Uber Nigeria profitable?
Uber has never publicly provided a ten-year Nigerian revenue and profit series as its global financial statements do not separately report Nigeria, making it impossible to establish from its public filings whether the Nigerian operation generated a profit or loss in individual years.
However keeping the Nigerian business for twelve years points to a level of profitability despite the business facing a challenging combination of factors: declining relative market share, aggressive competition, high driver operating costs, price-sensitive consumers, platform-gaming risks and regulatory complexity.
The main question is whether the expected return from maintaining its Nigerian ride-hailing operation was high enough to justify the management, regulatory and capital resources required to defend its position.
Uber arrived in Nigeria in 2014 as the company that helped teach millions of Nigerians to summon a car from a smartphone and Twelve years later, it is leaving a market where Bolt has become the dominant platform, InDrive has established itself as a major alternative and the economics of traditional ride-hailing have become increasingly difficult.
