Having finished writing a young adult novel set in Nigeria, the research I had to do gave me SO MANY THOUGHTS about being an adolescent/teenager today on the African continent, esp south of the Sahara.

It's not...great. And here are a bunch of reasons why:

1. Majority still wrongly believe that adolescents = children.

Which is why govt, educators, parents & other stakeholders almost always make choices that harm rather than help teenagers.

For those who need the explainer, what separates adolescence from childhood is simple:

- emotional flux: suddenly capable of more complex engagement & evaluation before coming to their own conclusions
- puberty & sexual awakening
- start of path to independence
- etc

Writing this book taught me Nigerians treat 13-17s in 2 distinct ways:
- as kids; or
- as adults.

It's almost like we cannot compartmentalize that there's an in-between. And this child/adult dichotomy is why VERY FEW things are designed specifically for teenagers.

Test this: Name the last time there was a(n) [X] specifically targeting adolescents (~13-17yrs) in your country.

Where [X] is:
- govt policy
- book/publication
- TV/film/media
- fashion
- etc

Note the distinction here. Adolescents =/= children & adolescents =/= adults.

If you've had to think hard to name 5 instances, it's already a failure. Africa's teen pop = 226m+ FGS!

2. Flattening the adolescent experience

Too many fail to accept that the teenage experience is WILDLY diverse in African countries in the exact same way adult experiences are.

Differentiators include everything from being single/married to being rich/poor & educated/uneducated.

Nigerians like to think of adolescence as a time of fluff for most, but many teens have to work to feed their families while also attending school. Many have no parental care & live with relatives who harm them. Many drop out of school. Many, esp girls, are abused at this time.

3. Nobody gives a shit about adolescents. Nobody.

This is the culmination of the last 2 problems. As the "invisible age group," teen-specific needs tend to be filed under child needs (which they're not quite) or neglected altogether (often leading to rushing them into adulthood)

As an author, just the lack of adolescent-targeted literature brought my attention to this, but writing this novel blew open the whole picture. And it makes me real sad.

Teenage needs deserve time & care & attention just as ours do. We must do better to achieve that, all of us.