FAAN Rejects Blame for Uber's Nigeria Exit, Cites Passenger Safety as Core Mandate
The Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mrs Olubunmi Kuku, has firmly rejected suggestions that the agency was responsible for Uber's recent decision to withdraw its ride-hailing operations from Nigeria. Speaking publicly on the matter, Kuku stressed that FAAN's actions at the country's airports have been guided by passenger safety, accountability and the ongoing effort to enhance the traveller experience, rather than by any intent to push global operators out of the market.
Uber officially ended its ride-hailing services in Nigeria on 2 September 2026, closing a chapter of twelve years in one of Africa's largest economies. The exit has triggered heated debate across the Nigerian travel and mobility landscape, with several commentators pointing fingers at airport regulations as a possible catalyst. Kuku, however, maintained that she could not speak on behalf of the ride-hailing giant and that any decision to leave a market would ultimately reflect the company's own economic and regulatory calculations.
According to Kuku, FAAN had been receiving a steady stream of complaints from travellers regarding their experiences with e-hailing and car-hire services, particularly during the busy December holiday period. These complaints included worrying reports of intimidation, passengers being dropped at unintended locations, and other serious safety incidents. Such feedback, she explained, made it impossible for the authority to ignore its supervisory responsibilities over transportation operating within airport premises.
A further complication, she said, involved drivers linked to platforms such as Uber and Bolt who allegedly abandoned their apps once inside airport zones and began operating as informal car-hire agents, sometimes charging inflated fares. This behaviour, she noted, fuelled complaints about touting and created an environment where passengers could not easily identify who was transporting them. In response, FAAN developed a system designed to give travellers visibility over the car-hire companies and drivers offering rides from the airports.
Kuku was quick to clarify that FAAN neither collects fares on behalf of car-hire operators nor employs the drivers involved. Instead, the airport-managed platform simply provides passengers with details about the operators, drivers and indicative fares to their destinations. Travellers remain free to choose how they leave the airport, whether by pre-booking a vehicle, using an e-hailing app or engaging airport-registered car-hire services. She acknowledged that airport car-hire fares are generally higher because the operating model involves both drop-off and return trips, a cost structure familiar to airport transport regulators across Africa.
At the heart of FAAN's disagreement with e-hailing companies, Kuku revealed, was the thorny question of driver liability. The authority had agreed to provide dedicated pick-up zones at airports, a request long championed by the platforms, but insisted that operators must accept responsibility for the drivers using their apps. The e-hailing firms, however, maintained that drivers are independent contractors rather than employees, and typically directed passengers with safety concerns to in-app reporting features. Kuku described this stalemate as a major stumbling block, one that had significant implications for how passenger protection is enforced within Nigeria's airport environment.
Despite the friction, the FAAN boss was clear that Uber's decision to leave should not be laid at the authority's door. She noted that Uber had been weighing an exit from the Nigerian market for some time, and that airport operations represented only a small slice of the wider territory the company covered nationally. Broader commercial, regulatory and profitability considerations, she suggested, were the more likely drivers.
For the African travel trade, the episode carries important lessons. As e-hailing and airport ground transport continue to evolve across the continent, regulators and platforms alike will need to find workable frameworks that balance passenger safety, driver welfare, commercial viability and operational transparency. How Nigeria navigates the vacuum left by Uber's departure will be watched closely by travel professionals, corporate travel managers and mobility investors across sub-Saharan Africa in the months ahead.
