Uber's African retreat leaves drivers facing economic crisis amid soaring costs

Uber's sudden withdrawal from Nigeria and Uganda last week has upended the livelihoods of thousands of drivers who built their income around the platform. The company, which had spent more than a decade establishing itself across Africa's most populous nation, announced the exit with immediate effect, offering no detailed explanation and vague promises of support. The departure leaves Uber operational on the continent in only four countries: Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa. It marks the latest contraction in a company that has struggled to gain sustained footing across much of Africa despite its global scale, having also shuttered operations in Ivory Coast and Tanzania within the past year while cutting its worldwide workforce by 10 percent.

For drivers like Abbas Olamide in Abuja, the math of ride-hailing had already stopped working. On a 30,000 naira trip to the airport—roughly 20 euros—Uber's commission alone consumed 6,000 naira. Then came the airport gate fee, the parking charge to wait for a return passenger, the fuel that had grown steadily more expensive. By the end of the day, what remained barely justified the hours spent behind the wheel. Samuel Olatunji, a 43-year-old driver in Lagos, faced the same squeeze. He knew that switching to competitors like Bolt or inDrive would mean lower overall earnings, even if it meant staying in the gig economy at all. Many drivers had already staged strikes and protests over the past years, their grievances about commissions, fares, and working conditions largely ignored by a company focused on its own margins.

The economics that broke Uber in these two markets reveal a structural mismatch that extends far beyond the company's operational decisions. Nigeria's ride-hailing market alone is worth an estimated 450 million dollars annually, yet Uber could not make the numbers work. The problem, according to Ikemesit Effiong, a partner at SBM Intelligence in Lagos, lies in a currency trap: Uber's costs are denominated in dollars, while drivers earn in naira—a currency that has lost significant value since 2014. Rising fuel prices, vehicle maintenance, insurance, and inflation have pushed operating costs upward faster than consumers can afford to pay. Riders in Lagos and Abuja, themselves squeezed by double-digit inflation that has eroded purchasing power across the continent, simply cannot or will not pay fares high enough to sustain both driver income and Uber's profit margins. The company tried to hold fares low to retain price-sensitive customers, but in doing so, it hollowed out what drivers could take home.

Competitors operate under different models. InDrive, for instance, uses a negotiated-fare approach that relies less on the capital-intensive, standardized pricing template that works in wealthier markets. This flexibility has allowed rivals to persist where Uber could not. Bolt, SafeBoda, and others continue operating in Nigeria and Uganda, positioned to absorb some of Uber's departing drivers and riders. Yet the transition offers no relief to those drivers now scrambling to recalibrate their business models. Olatunji acknowledged what many understood: switching platforms meant lower take-home pay, period. Some drivers would attempt to multi-app, juggling several services simultaneously. Others would negotiate fares directly with passengers, moving off-platform. Still others would simply exit the gig economy, unable to sustain themselves on what remained.

For riders, the loss carries its own weight. Mary-Esther Anele, a Lagos resident, told reporters she had relied on Uber as a safe and reliable option compared to alternatives. Now she would search for other services, but more fundamentally, she expected to travel less altogether. Higher transportation costs across the board would reshape how people moved through the city. The broader questions loom unanswered: Will Uber abandon its remaining African operations? Will it adjust pricing to extract more revenue from the continent? How will competitors respond to the sudden market shift? In South Africa and elsewhere, ride-hailing platforms have long provoked conflict with traditional taxi operators, some of whom have turned to violence to resist competition. Uber's shrinking footprint may reshape these dynamics in ways still unclear. For now, thousands of drivers across Nigeria and Uganda face an uncertain future, preparing for a journey whose destination remains unknown.