**COBOL: The Legacy of Nigeria's Early Banking Systems** Imagine waking up one morning to discover that your bank doesn't have enough staff to handle the huge number of customers seeking to access their savings. This might sound like a nightmare, but it's a reality that has played out in the United States, with the state of New Jersey being one of the worst-hit. The reason? The state's unemployment insurance systems, which date back to the 1960s, were written in an outdated programming language called COBOL. COBOL, which stands for Common Business-Oriented Language, has been in use for over six decades. In fact, it's the most widely adopted computer language in history, with a staggering 80% of the world's 300 billion lines of code written in COBOL by the year 2000. While it may have been a marvel of its time, COBOL is now a relic that's difficult to replace. This is because the language was designed to run on mainframe computers, which are massive, expensive machines that are not easily upgraded or replaced. In Nigeria, we have our own legacy systems, including those used by banks and other financial institutions. Many of these systems were built in the 1980s and 1990s, using languages like COBOL, Pascal, and Fortran. These systems are still in use today, despite being outdated and vulnerable to cyber attacks. The cost of replacing these systems is staggering, and it's not just the financial cost that's a concern. In the US, the inefficiencies of COBOL are estimated to have cost the GDP $105 billion in 2020. The COBOL language was first proposed in 1959 by a committee of US computer industry leaders, including the legendary Grace Hopper. Its goal was to create a common business language that could be used across different machines and systems. While this may have been a noble goal, it's led to a situation where many organizations are stuck with outdated systems that are difficult to upgrade or replace. In the end, COBOL is a reminder that technology is not a one-time investment, but an ongoing process that requires continuous maintenance and upgrading. As we move forward in our digital journey, it's essential that we learn from the past and prioritize the development of modern, flexible systems that can adapt to changing needs.