Uber officially shut down its ride-hailing operations in Nigeria on September 2, 2026, ending a twelve-year run in the country. The company said the decision followed a review of its business priorities across Africa, and that its other African markets remained unaffected.
The exit is expected to hit women disproportionately, given that they made up around seventy percent of the platform’s passengers in Nigeria, according to the Gig Economy in Nigeria 2026 report by Bolt and Ipsos. Women, by contrast, accounted for only about four percent of the country’s ride-hailing drivers, the report found, meaning the shutdown affects women far more as riders losing a trusted option than as drivers losing income.
Many Nigerian women had relied on Uber as a safer alternative to public transport. A separate survey cited in the report found that forty-five percent of female passengers in Lagos had experienced sexual harassment while using public transport, and seventy percent said they had witnessed it happen to someone else.
With Uber gone, riders are expected to move to Bolt and inDrive, now the two largest ride-hailing platforms operating in the country. Some women have voiced concern that fares could rise and driver accountability could weaken without Uber’s competition. One Lagos resident, identified online as Imoteda, reacted to the news on X, saying Bolt was already “obscenely priced” and warning that its drivers and riders could become “even more incorrigible” once Uber’s pressure on the market disappeared.
Uber said its Help Centre would remain open until later in September to assist with outstanding account questions, and that departing drivers would receive a one-off goodwill payment.
