On September 2, 2026, Uber Technologies abruptly ended its operations in Nigeria and Uganda, sending shockwaves through the urban mobility landscape of Sub-Saharan Africa. The app stopped working as soon as the announcement was made, cutting off access for both partner drivers and passengers in the two countries.
The decision brings a definitive end to twelve years of activity in Nigeria, where the California based company first launched in Lagos in 2014 before gradually expanding into other major cities across the country. In Uganda, it closes out nearly a decade of operations, since the service began in Kampala in 2016. According to Lorraine Onduru, Uber’s communications director for East and West Africa, the twin exit follows a review of the company’s business priorities and its investments on the continent.
The timing of the announcement was far from coincidental. On the very same day, Uber unveiled a global restructuring plan that includes cutting roughly 3,300 jobs, close to 10 percent of its workforce, its deepest round of layoffs since the Covid-19 pandemic. In an internal memo, chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi framed the move as an effort to simplify the company’s structure and redirect investment toward what he called its autonomous future, a clear reference to the push into robotaxis.
Several local factors had already been chipping away at Uber’s position in Nigeria in recent years. Competition intensified sharply, driven in part by Estonia’s Bolt, which allows drivers to use older car models than Uber typically permits, and by InDrive, whose model lets passengers and drivers haggle directly over fares. On top of that, rising fuel costs, persistent inflation and sharp currency swings pushed up operating expenses, squeezing both platform margins and driver earnings.
Uber has been careful to frame the withdrawal as narrowly targeted. The company says it remains deeply committed to Sub-Saharan Africa, where it still sees long term growth potential, and it continues to operate in several key markets on the continent, including South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Egypt and Morocco. Uber also denied any connection between its decision and a recent directive from Nigeria’s aviation authority concerning ride hailing services at airports.
The exit adds to a growing list of multinationals that have left the Nigerian market since inflation began surging in 2023, in the wake of economic reforms introduced by President Bola Tinubu. Consumer goods maker Procter & Gamble led that wave at the end of 2023, arguing that Nigeria had become too difficult a market for a company whose accounts are denominated in dollars. Other departures took the form of a sale to a local operator that kept the business running, as was the case with British brewer Diageo two years earlier. Uber itself had already pulled out of Ivory Coast in September 2025, after six years in Abidjan, as well as out of Tanzania.
On the ground, a support line will remain open for twenty one days, until September 23, to handle complaints from drivers and passengers affected by the shutdown. The company says it wants to support its local teams through the transition, though it has not publicly detailed exactly what that assistance will look like. The withdrawal now leaves room that local players such as LagRide, a startup backed by the Lagos state government, along with already established rivals, will likely be quick to fill.