Uber Has Left Nigeria. Now FAAN Is Explaining Why Airport Rules Became a Flashpoint

Uber has left Nigeria after 12 years, but the argument over what pushed the company out is still going.

The ride-hailing company ended its Nigerian operations on September 2, 2026, saying it had reviewed its business and decided to wind down in Nigeria and Uganda. It did not give a specific reason for leaving.

Days later, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) found itself having to answer a question that had been circulating since the announcement: did its new airport rules have anything to do with Uber's exit?

FAAN's answer is no.

FAAN says the airport rules were about passengers

FAAN Managing Director Olubunmi Kuku said the authority's focus was passenger safety and accountability, not pushing Uber out of the country.

The authority had been tightening its oversight of e-hailing and car-hire services at airports after receiving complaints about intimidation, excessive charges, passengers being dropped at unintended locations and touting.

Kuku also said some drivers linked to e-hailing platforms were switching off their apps once inside airport areas and operating like informal car-hire agents. That made it harder for passengers to know exactly who was driving them and who was responsible if something went wrong.

FAAN subsequently moved to create a more structured system for identifying airport transport operators and drivers.

The dispute with e-hailing companies, however, went beyond where passengers could be picked up.

The real fight was over responsibility

According to Kuku, Uber and other e-hailing companies wanted dedicated airport pick-up areas.

FAAN was prepared to provide them, but wanted the platforms to accept greater responsibility for drivers operating through their apps.

That became difficult because the companies generally treat their drivers as independent contractors rather than employees. When passengers have problems with a driver, the platforms typically direct them towards their in-app reporting systems.

For FAAN, that arrangement was not enough inside an airport environment, where the authority wanted clearer accountability for people transporting passengers on its premises.

So the two sides had a regulatory disagreement. But that does not mean the disagreement caused Uber to leave Nigeria.

Uber's exit was bigger than the airports

Airport operations represent only one part of Uber's Nigerian business.

Kuku said Uber had been considering its departure for some time and that the company would have had its own economic and regulatory reasons for making the decision.

That distinction matters.

FAAN's airport restrictions affected how e-hailing companies operated at airports. They did not amount to a nationwide ban on Uber.

Uber also described its departure as part of a broader review of its business priorities and investment focus in Africa.

Nigeria's wider ride-hailing market has also become more difficult, with inflation, fuel costs, currency pressures and intense competition putting pressure on operators.

Now the FCCPC wants answers too

There is another development that gives Uber's departure a new dimension.

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has opened an inquiry into the company's exit, particularly over possible unfulfilled services and obligations to customers.

FCCPC chief executive Tunji Bello said the commission was examining how Uber handled its departure, including obligations to customers whose services may not have been completed.

That means the focus has shifted beyond the FAAN dispute.

The regulator is now looking at what happened to riders, drivers and other customers who were left dealing with the sudden shutdown of the platform.

Nigeria now has a bigger mobility problem

Uber's departure does not leave Nigeria without ride-hailing services. Other platforms remain in the market.

But it does remove one of the country's biggest international mobility brands after more than a decade.

For FAAN, the episode is also a test of how airport authorities regulate private transport companies without making airports unnecessarily difficult for passengers and operators.

The bigger challenge is finding rules that protect passengers without creating a system so difficult that major platforms decide the market is no longer worth it.

Uber's exit does not prove that FAAN caused the company's decision.

But the dispute has exposed a problem Nigeria cannot avoid: who is responsible when a digital platform, an independent driver and a government-controlled airport all sit between a passenger and the journey home?