Uber has switched off its ride-hailing service in Nigeria and Uganda, as cheaper rivals take more riders across Africa, Moneyweb reported.
The company announced the move on 2 September. It came after Uber left Tanzania and Ivory Coast over the previous 12 months.
“Affordability is important in African mobility markets. Rider affordability and driver economics are interconnected. A marketplace needs to work for both sides,” said Deepesh Thomas, Uber’s general manager for sub-Saharan Africa and Morocco.
In Nigeria alone, at least 50 000 drivers used the app to support their families and pay off car loans. This is according to Ayoade Ibrahim, general secretary of the Amalgamated Union of App-Based Transporters of Nigeria.
“It’s a very big disaster. Every worker has many people eating from his job,” Ibrahim said.
Abuja driver Kayode Emmanuel, who used Uber for six years, said he learnt of the exit from an Instagram post his wife saw. He has joined Bolt and inDrive, but his weekly income has fallen by a third.
Uber started its African business in Johannesburg in 2013. It built its offer partly on higher vehicle and safety standards. But many riders on the continent choose the lowest price.
On 6 October, the cheapest Uber fare for a 3.2-mile trip in Johannesburg at 7.45pm was R50. The same trip on Bolt cost R39.
Bolt, which is based in Tallinn, Estonia, now runs in eight African countries, compared with six for Uber. It said more than a million African drivers and couriers use its platform.
“You need to consider payment behaviour, vehicle access, consumer affordability. While the platform is global, the model has to be local,” said Simo Kalajdzic, head of Bolt’s South African business.
Safety remains Uber’s main selling point, said Justin Suttner of AURA, which runs an emergency response platform for Uber drivers in Kenya and South Africa. A November 2025 City of Johannesburg survey said Bolt drivers were more likely to be hijacked than Uber drivers.
Bolt said safety is central to how it works. It said it is spending 100 million euros worldwide on security between 2024 and 2027.
Charlie Robertson, chief economic adviser at Kenya’s Equity Group Holdings, said too few people in some countries can pay for Uber’s service.
“My guess is Uber’s addressable middle-class market starts at about $2 500 gross domestic product per capita and Nigeria and Uganda are below that,” he said.
The International Monetary Fund estimates South Africa’s GDP per capita at $7 500 this year. Kenya, at $2 700, is the lowest of the African countries where Uber still operates.
In South Africa, Uber also faces low-cost competition. Bolt launched a cheap service in Johannesburg using the Bajaj Qute quadricycle. Uber answered late last year with a Chinese electric car that costs more than twice as much.
Thomas said Uber remains committed to Africa. He pointed to more than a billion trips taken on the platform in the region and a pledge to invest more than $300 million in South Africa.
On 6 September, Nigeria’s Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission said it will investigate Uber’s departure. Ibrahim’s union has gone to the labour ministry and may take the matter to the national industrial court.
Source: this article is based on reporting by Moneyweb. Image: Moneyweb. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice Business desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Anelisa Nkuna covers business and money news for Tzaneen Voice. Anelisa reports on the rand, fuel prices, interest rates, jobs, Eskom, Transnet, farming and company results. The aim is simple: explain what the numbers mean for household budgets, small businesses and workers in South Africa.