Uber has pulled out of Nigeria and Uganda, ending a combined 22 years of ride hailing operations across both countries and narrowing its African presence to four markets.
The company confirmed the exit in a statement issued to reporters and in a separate email sent directly to riders in both countries on Wednesday. Uber said the decision followed a full review of its business and would take effect immediately.
“After a thorough review, we have taken the difficult decision to wind down operations in Nigeria and Uganda, effective September 2, 2026,” an Uber spokesperson said in the statement. “This decision is limited strictly to these two markets and does not impact our operations across the rest of the continent. Our immediate priority is supporting drivers, riders, and local team members throughout this transition. Uber remains deeply committed to Sub Saharan Africa, where we continue to see robust growth and long term opportunity.”
Uber launched in Lagos in 2014 and in Kampala in 2016. Its exit from Nigeria closes a 12 year run in Africa’s most populous country, while Uganda’s departure ends a 10 year presence there. The company said its decision was not connected to a recent directive from the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria concerning e hailing pickups at Nigerian airports, and that it continues to engage with regulators on that matter separately.
Uber for Business services in both markets will also close. The company said its rider Help Centre will stay open until September 23 to handle account queries, refunds and outstanding balances, and that customer data will continue to be handled under applicable privacy laws with retention limited to what is legally required.
Retreat
Nigeria and Uganda are the third and fourth African markets Uber has exited in under two years. The company left Ivory Coast in 2025 after six years of operations, and shut down in Tanzania in February 2026. It now operates in four African countries: Egypt, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa.
| Market | Launch year | Exit year | Years of operation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ivory Coast | 2019 | 2025 | 6 |
| Tanzania | 2016 | 2026 | 10 |
| Nigeria | 2014 | 2026 | 12 |
| Uganda | 2016 | 2026 | 10 |
In Kenya, where Uber remains active, the company has spent recent years adjusting fares and fees rather than exiting. It cut driver service fees from 25 percent to 18 percent in 2022 after securing a transport network licence from the National Transport and Safety Authority, and raised minimum fares by 10 percent in 2024 following driver protests over pay. Uber also pushed back last year against Kenya’s proposed Significant Economic Presence tax, telling lawmakers the levy would hurt driver earnings and investment in the market rather than confirming any plan to leave. The company says its Kenyan operations added roughly Sh2.2 billion a year to driver earnings in its most recent economic impact report.
Restructuring
The African exits land alongside a much larger global overhaul. Uber said Wednesday it will cut about 3,300 jobs, roughly 10 percent of its global workforce, in its biggest reduction since it cut 6,700 roles during the 2020 pandemic downturn.
Chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi told staff in an internal memo that Uber’s rapid growth over the past five years had produced additional management layers, fragmented responsibilities and structures no longer suited to the company’s current scale.
The plan will shrink management ranks by about 20 percent, cut micro teams of one or two employees by nearly half, and reduce staff sitting seven or more reporting layers below the CEO by a fifth. Uber is also folding its three separate delivery operations teams, covering restaurants, retail and direct delivery, into unified teams at global, regional and country level. The cuts will bring headcount to just under 30,000 and are aimed partly at freeing up capital for its autonomous vehicle push, where the company has committed more than $10 billion across partnerships with Avride, Lucid, Nuro and Rivian. Uber shares rose as much as 2.1 percent to $76.79 on the announcement before giving back most of the gain to trade less than 1 percent higher on the day.
The cuts follow narrower reductions earlier in 2026 in Uber’s customer service and human resources divisions, and arrive weeks after the Dutch Data Protection Authority fined Uber €825 million, about $966 million, over its use of automated systems to suspend and deactivate drivers between 2020 and 2022.
Uber rejected the regulator’s findings and called the penalty disproportionate, saying the practices involved, including a temporary fraud waitlist and ratings based deactivations, had already been discontinued by the end of 2022.
Unlike the 2020 cuts, this round comes while Uber’s core business is growing. The company reported gross bookings of $58 billion for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, up 24 percent year over year, with revenue of $14.2 billion, up 12 percent.
Mobility gross bookings, the segment covering ride hailing, rose 20 percent to $28.99 billion for the quarter, and non GAAP net income grew 29 percent to $1.7 billion. Uber does not break out country level results for Nigeria, Uganda or its other African markets in public filings, so the direct revenue impact of the two exits is not disclosed.
| Uber Q2 2026 (quarter ended June 30) | Figure | Change YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Gross bookings | $58.0 billion | +24% |
| Revenue | $14.2 billion | +12% |
| Mobility gross bookings | $28.99 billion | +20% |
| Non GAAP net income | $1.7 billion | +29% |
| Global headcount (post cuts) | ~30,000 | -10% |
What comes next
Drivers and riders in Lagos, Abuja, Kampala and other cities served by Uber will need to switch to rival platforms. In Nigeria, that list includes Bolt and a cluster of smaller local operators such as Oga Taxi and inDrive.
In Uganda, SafeBoda’s car hailing arm, Faras and Yango are the main alternatives. Corporate clients using Uber for Business in either country will also need new arrangements before September 23, when Uber’s support access closes.
