The Bolt rides prank began after former Miss SA 2024 contestant, Chidimma Adetshina’s arrival in Lagos for the Miss Universe Nigeria beauty pageant.
E-hailing service Bolt has blocked inter-country ride requests on Thursday following the tug-of-war banter between South Africans and Nigerians.
Bolt reported it had suspended and blocked an undisclosed number of accounts that took part in fake ride requests.
The situation led to an unfavourable situation for Bolt drivers in both countries.
Inter-country fake rides, tit for tat
The rides prank began after former Miss SA 2024 contestant, Chidimma Adetshina’s arrival in Lagos for the Miss Universe Nigeria beauty pageant.
“I’m so thrilled. I was excited throughout the flight and can’t wait to explore more of Nigeria. I look forward to meeting the other contestants. I’m grateful for the opportunity to compete,” Adetshina said in the viral video.
Her participation in the competition sparked controversy over her identity and citizenship.
The silly cab trend stemming from Chidimma banter led South Africans to order bolt rides in Nigeria to spite and waste Nigerian drivers’ time.
South Africans on social media X could be seen requesting rides in Nigeria and subsequently cancelling them upon the driver’s arrival at the pickup location.
Nigerians then decided to return the favour by also requesting cars on their side and only to cancel them on arrival.
Bolt told News24 that it was mindful of the situation and resorted to blocking users who requested fraudulent rides.
“Bolt is aware of the fake ride request incident between some people in Nigeria and South Africa. Following a thorough investigation and the implementation of enhanced security measures, we have addressed this issue swiftly by restricting inter-country ride requests,” said the company’s senior operations manager Simo Kalajdzic.
Kalajdzic said Bolt acknowledged the situation’s impact on its driver partners both in SA and Nigeria.
“We are committed to ensuring a safe, reliable, and secure experience for all community members,” he added.
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Nigerians took the trend a step further by ordering food on fast food delivery apps which have the pay-on-delivery option.
“Nigerians. Go to your Play Store/App Store and download NANDO’s app. There are more South African workers on here,” one Nigerian user tweeted after partaking in the prank himself.
Bolt rides trend- Social media reactions
While some users from both countries were thrilled and took part in the trend, some condemned the activity and called it silly.
Akeem Ojubanire said: “People are losing time and money due to these silly trends. Bolt should step in and stop this Bolt for Bolt madness between Nigeria and South Africa.”
