The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has rejected claims that its restrictions on e-hailing operations at airports contributed to Uber’s decision to leave Nigeria.

FAAN Managing Director, Olubunmi Kuku, said the ride-hailing company’s exit was a business decision and was unrelated to the authority’s efforts to regulate commercial transportation within airport premises.

Speaking with journalists on Friday at the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos, amid renewed questions over the timing of Uber’s departure and the recent disagreement between FAAN and e-hailing operators.

Uber announced on 2 September that it was discontinuing operations in Nigeria after 12 years in the country, saying the decision followed a review of its evolving business priorities and investment focus across Africa.

PREMIUM TIMES had earlier reported that the company specifically said its exit was not related to the recent FAAN directive on e-hailing operations at Nigerian airports.

FAAN Managing Director said the airport authority had no control over Uber’s wider operations in Nigeria.

“I can’t speak to their exit from Nigeria. I’m sure they have their own economic and regulatory considerations as to why they chose to exit,” Ms Kuku said.

She added that Uber had been considering its departure for some time and that airports accounted for only a small part of the company’s activities in Nigeria.

“So, it has nothing to do with FAAN. Again, the airport is just a small part of the wider area in which they operate within Nigeria,” she noted.

Why FAAN restricted e-hailing operations

The controversy over e-hailing services at Nigerian airports began weeks before Uber’s departure.

On 30 July, FAAN directed airport managers to stop Uber and Bolt from conducting commercial operations at airports under its management pending the finalisation and execution of licence agreements with the companies.

The directive raised concerns among passengers and operators, particularly after travellers reported difficulty accessing familiar ride-hailing services and paying higher fares for alternative airport transportation.

PREMIUM TIMES reported at the time that the development also prompted Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, to direct FAAN to address passengers’ concerns. Bolt subsequently reached an operational agreement with FAAN and was cleared to resume services at airports managed by the authority.

FAAN later said the directive should not be interpreted as a blanket ban on e-hailing services.

The authority said its concern was how commercial transportation activities were conducted within a highly regulated airport environment, particularly issues of passenger safety, identification, accountability and solicitation.

Ms Kuku said the authority had received several complaints, particularly during the December holiday period, about passengers’ experiences with some e-hailing and car-hire services.

She explained that the complaints included intimidation, passengers being taken to unintended locations, and other incidents that raised concerns about the ability to identify drivers and hold them accountable.

According to her, there were also cases where some e-hailing drivers allegedly operated alongside car-hire operators and charged passengers higher fares.

“We also had situations where some Uber and Bolt drivers would get out of their cars under the guise of coming into the airport as e-hailing drivers, and then join the car-hire operators to charge higher fares,” she said.

She noted that the complaints prompted FAAN to seek greater regulatory oversight of commercial transportation within its airports.

What ACHRAMS is for

The dispute also drew attention to FAAN’s Airport Car Hire Rank Management System, known as ACHRAMS.

Some passengers and industry observers had questioned whether the platform was designed to replace existing e-hailing services such as Uber and Bolt.

FAAN has repeatedly denied this.

The authority said ACHRAMS is not an e-hailing application but an airport-specific system designed to provide operational visibility, tracking, driver identification and oversight of commercial car-hire activities within FAAN-managed airports.

Ms Kuku said the system was introduced primarily to ensure passengers could identify the company and driver conveying them from the airport.

“The app that was developed was strictly focused on ensuring that passengers have visibility into who the car-hire companies are and who the driver taking them from Point A to Point B is.”

She stressed that FAAN does not operate the car-hire services or collect fares on behalf of drivers.

“FAAN does not collect money on behalf of the drivers. Those car-hire drivers are not FAAN drivers,” she said.

According to her, FAAN only provides passengers with indicative fares for their destinations, while passengers remain free to choose among pre-booked vehicles, e-hailing platforms, and car-hire services.

Dispute over liability

Ms Kuku said another major point of disagreement between FAAN and e-hailing companies was liability for drivers using their platforms, adding that the companies wanted dedicated pick-up areas at airports, which FAAN was willing to provide. Still, the authority also wanted them to accept greater responsibility for the conduct and safety of drivers operating through their platforms.

READ ALSO: Uber exits Nigeria after 12 years of operation

According to her, the companies argued that the drivers were independent contractors rather than their employees.

She said this created a difficulty for FAAN because passengers were directed to rely on the platforms’ safety features, while the companies were reluctant to accept responsibility for the drivers.

“One of the issues we were struggling with the e-hailing companies over was largely around liability clauses.”

She maintained that FAAN’s central concern was ensuring that people providing transportation within airport premises could be identified and held accountable when problems arose.

“We received a lot of complaints, especially around the December holiday period, from passengers who used some of the e-hailing services, as well as car-hire services, and had very unpleasant experiences,” she said.

Despite the dispute, FAAN has said it is not opposed to e-hailing services and wants to reach an operational framework that allows them to continue serving passengers while meeting airport safety and security requirements.

Uber, however, has now ended its 12-year presence in Nigeria, maintaining that its decision followed a review of its business priorities and was not caused by the FAAN directive.

Dangote Refinery will open the order book for its initial public offering to retail investors on 14 September, effectively kickstarting the $1.5 billion public share sale, said to be the continent’s biggest ever, Reuters reported Friday, citing two sources who have close knowledge of the move.

Pricing will commence at any moment now at N525 per share ($0.40), with 4.1 billion shares up for subscription, the report added, noting that the sources spoke on the understanding that their identities will not be disclosed.

The crude processing plant, which holds the distinction of being the world’s largest single-train refinery, will have the latitude to sell 15 per cent of the offer size in addition to the total number of shares up for grabs in the event the transaction is oversubscribed, a source was quoted as saying.

The facility, owned by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, is ready to double nameplate capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd).

Financing will be provided by proceeds from both the planned equity sale and a private placement held in July, which raised $2.5 billion from institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals. It was 270 per cent oversubscribed.

Another refinery, the size of the current one at 700,000 bpd, is to be established in the coastal town of Lamu in Kenya, strategically conceived by the Dangote Group as the gateway to the broader East African market.

READ ALSO: Dangote Cement sets date for London capital markets day ahead of LSE listing

Last month, the group offered a 30 per cent stake in the proposed refinery to countries in the region, including Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia.

The groundbreaking is scheduled for this month.

Dangote Refinery is exploring a cross-border listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the continent’s foremost bourse, following a primary listing in Lagos.

The corporation said in August that a London listing, which its sister company, Dangote Cement, is actively pursuing, is not on the cards, adding that a potential listing in the UK capital is at least three years away.