The unravelling of Uber and Bolt rideshare modes in Nigeria (II)

Last week, we started considering the issues that users of the innovative rideshare services called Uber and Bolt have been having in Nigeria. Further research shows that this is probably an African issue. Someone from Ghana on social media also complained about how drivers – after accepting rides – will call riders to complain or cancel the transaction. 

There seems to be a need to recalibrate these business models in Africa, to reflect our reality. But for now, the issues are as below:

1. These guys are getting our data through Uber/Bolt. When one books a ride, your name and number is available there. So also is your passport photo. A keen data miner can use your details (often including credit/debit cards) to get to your bank accounts or even create a clone of you for other purposes.  I think this is unfair on riders.
2. This is serious data protection breach which must be addressed by these ride hailing companies
3. All sorts of monkey business will now start. The security of knowing that your journey is recorded and could be traced has disappeared. If you strike a deal with them offline and they happen to have criminal intents, you are on your own.
4. The rider is left vulnerable and subject to blackmail, in the middle of nowhere. Cancelling a ride on someone with no alternatives with a view to setting your own terms is blackmail and extortion.
5. Whatever calamities occur as a result of these shenanigans fall back on Bolt/Uber and the companies’ names will always be mentioned. 

If something really serious occurs, lawyers could find ways of making those companies fall liable for not risk-managing people’s data appropriately. Those companies must act fast

And what those Uber Bolt guys don’t know is that they can jam fortune by just being nice and truthful people. I understand even Dangote, the richest man in Africa, takes Uber sometimes. Imagine what a nice, neat car and good manners could do with Dangote in a single ride.

Even I as a poor man. I met this young Bolt guy in Lagos named Socrates (real name) who had been struggling with schooling. He’s now in Open University and I paid half of his first-year fees. I will continue till he finishes insha Allah.

When I posted his case on Facebook my friends started sending him money and he must got close to 200k. Someone suggested we send him millions but I asked them to allow him focus and develop mental muscle on his own. He paid his rent with the donations then. His mum calls me from the East occasionally. Just from a single Bolt ride. 

I’m not sure I’ve ever used a Bolt or Uber without tipping them generously. Except a few very lousy and careless ones. Some are too talkative. Some are flippant. A few have suppressed criminal tendencies. But most are okay. With this ‘oyibo’ innovation, God lurked there somewhere waiting for whose good attitude will help them lever out of poverty. A few made it. A lot were held down by their attitudes. They still complain about how Nigeria is such a useless place. 

Most of our people’s problem has very little to do with government or Nigeria but themselves and their attitude to life. Rather than choosing to be good and fair, our young Uber/Bolt drivers have decided to criminally obtain people’s data from the same platforms and use such data to blackmail and extort money. Nigerians are not special beings. Bad, weak governance has only made us more wayward over time. I await what Bolt and Uber will do to redress this matter.

And for the drivers too, there is a need for some protection. There are two cases I know about currently. One man took one of these rides from Abuja airport, allegedly had seizures while in the car, was rushed to the hospital by the driver, and died. As at the time of writing this, the driver is still a guest of the police as prime suspect. 

Police must do its job to ensure it was not murder, right? In another instance told to me by a lawyer friend, a driver picked someone at Lagos airport, drove him to Banana Island only to realize that he had died right at the back seat. Again, police case. 

The last time I took an Uber in London, I recall one of the drivers showing me the cameras that record every journey. There were three cameras in the car. One behind and two from the front. But because of the lowering of standards in Nigeria, no one is thinking about this, thus making drivers extra vulnerable, just as the passengers. 

This is just the right time for more investment, more seriousness and a review of business model by these apps in Nigeria. And we too should behave like people who deserve global best practices.

We hope that these global companies are not taking their markets for granted. The dissatisfaction and frustrations that the drivers face should be addressed. But for now we seem to be drifting back to our old, inefficient and expensive systems.