Bolt Restricts Cross-Border Ride Requests Amid Nigeria-South Africa ‘Taxi-War’
Ride-hailing giant Bolt has implemented restrictions on cross-border ride requests between Nigeria and South Africa following a surge in social media-fueled pranks that left drivers frustrated and out of pocket. The tension between users in the two countries led to a spate of fake bookings, with customers in one nation ordering rides in the other, only to cancel them as a joke.
Drivers, unaware of the prank, were left chasing non-existent passengers, wasting time, fuel, and money. Munyaradzi Chinyama, a Bolt driver based in Cape Town, recounted receiving three such requests before realizing they were fraudulent. “I lost a lot of fuel, time, and money,” he told the BBC.
In response, Bolt has taken action by blocking users who participated in the prank and restricting inter-country ride requests between Nigeria and South Africa. However, the company confirmed that this restriction does not apply to other countries.
The issue also sparked a wave of abusive messages directed at drivers through the Bolt app. Chinyama reported being bombarded with insults, including being mockingly called “Mandela’s son.”
The origins of this so-called “Bolt war” are unclear, but it appears to have escalated from a single social media post, where a user on X (formerly Twitter) bragged about requesting a ride in Nigeria out of boredom. This quickly led to retaliatory pranks from Nigerians.
Many drivers in both countries have been affected. A Nigerian driver in Kano recounted how he was tricked into waiting for a non-existent passenger, wasting precious fuel—an especially painful loss given the recent spike in fuel prices in Nigeria.
The prank war has also driven up ride prices in both countries, leaving some customers unable to afford rides.
Social media users have called for an end to the pranks, noting that hardworking drivers are bearing the brunt of the jokes. “Uber and Bolt drivers are just trying to make ends meet,” one user pleaded. “They aren’t on Twitter trolling anyone. They are literally trying to earn an honest living.”
The “Bolt-war” is the latest episode in a long history of online rivalries between Nigeria and South Africa, with recent clashes including a row over a Miss South Africa contestant with Nigerian heritage, and ongoing debates over the merits of each country’s pop stars and football teams.
