Nigeria's currency redesign, introduced in late 2022, was followed by severe cash shortages in early 2023 as old notes were withdrawn and replacement notes proved difficult to obtain. A routine visit to an ATM could become an uncertain attempt to get hold of usable money.
Digital payments were increasingly familiar, but not every trader, journey or household could move at the same pace. Seeing a balance on a phone is not the same thing as being able to pay for food or transport that day. Waiting at a bank or cash machine exposes the unevenness of a transition often described as if it were a simple technological upgrade.
The shortage and policy changes are distinct from evidence for any individual queue. Numbers of people, exact locations and dates should be checked against contemporary reports before publication. The people seeking cash were not pursuing a luxury: they were trying to keep everyday exchanges possible.