NEWS
FAAN Breaks Silence on Uber’s Exit From Nigeria, Says Company Made Its Own Economic and Regulatory Decisions
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has denied responsibility for the decision by global ride-hailing platform, Uber, to discontinue its ride-hailing operations in Nigeria.
FAAN’s clarification comes days after Uber ended its ride-hailing operations in the country on September 2, 2026, bringing to an end 12 years of providing app-based transportation services to Nigerians.
The development generated widespread reactions, with questions raised over the factors behind the company’s departure and whether regulatory challenges within Nigeria’s transportation and aviation sectors played any role in the decision.
However, Managing Director of FAAN, Mrs Olubunmi Kuku, said Uber’s decision to leave Nigeria could not be attributed to the airport authority, stressing that the company would have considered its own economic and regulatory circumstances before making the decision.
Kuku spoke on Friday on the sidelines of the second induction ceremony and unveiling of the montage of honourees at the Nigeria Aviation Hall of Fame in Lagos. The event was held under the theme, ‘The Next Generation of Aviation Leaders: Talent, Technology and Global Competitiveness’.
While addressing the issue, Kuku explained that FAAN’s primary concern had been the safety and overall experience of passengers using the nation’s airports, particularly amid complaints received concerning some e-hailing platforms and car-hire operators.
According to her, the authority received several complaints during the December holiday period involving passengers who reportedly experienced intimidation, poor service and, in some cases, being dropped at locations different from their intended destinations.
She said these complaints compelled FAAN to pay closer attention to the operations of car-hire services and e-hailing platforms within airport environments.
Her words: “In recent weeks, I have seen a lot of information in the media, and I think it is important to clarify it. I work for FAAN, and my responsibility, first, is to ensure that our passengers are safe, they are protected and they have a seamless passenger experience.
“For Uber, I can’t speak to their exit from Nigeria. I am sure they have their own economic and regulatory decisions as to why they choose to exit. But a couple of things are very clear. What was important for FAAN is to ensure that we addressed passenger concerns.
“We did receive a lot of concerns, especially around the December holiday period, about passengers who took some of the e-hailing and even the car hire services, who had very terrible experiences. Some of them went all the way from intimidation to being dropped in other places and even more extreme situations.
“We did have situations where some of the Uber and Bolt drivers would get down from their cars under the guise of coming into the airport as e-hailing drivers, and they would join the car hires to charge higher fares. Based on this, it was important, because everybody was complaining about the touting at the airport, that we even provided some sort of regulatory oversight on the car hires.
“The app (Airport Car Hire Rank Management System, ACHRAMS) that was developed was strictly to focus on the fact that you have visibility on who the car hire companies are.
“FAAN does not collect money on behalf of the drivers. Those car hire drivers are not FAAN drivers. All we do is to give you a sample of the rates based on the destination that you’re going to.
“It is also important to note that the car hires by nature have always charged a higher fare, because their reason is they’re only going from one point to the airport and returning to the airport.
“It is the choice of the passenger whether you want to pre-book your cars, whether you want to use the e-hailing app, or whether you want to use the car hire; we have no jurisdiction over that. The only thing that I have a responsibility to do is to ensure that you have visibility over who is driving you and those within our airport.
“One of the things that we were struggling with the e-hailing companies was largely around liability clauses.
“So they wanted us to give them dedicated pickup zones, which we agreed to, but we also wanted them to take responsibility for the drivers.
“But we were told that those drivers are not the drivers of Uber; rather, they are independent drivers.
“So, any safety concerns that we had, they wanted the passengers to use the safety features; they did not want to take up that responsibility, and we had a major issue with that.”