Overcoming Minority Status In Nigeria.

There is one thing in life that we can't force ourselves to have, and that's Age. No matter how much you try, you can't force yourself to grow older. It has to be gradual. You can manage to get wealthy forcefully, and you can gain power forcefully, but becoming an elder cannot be gained forcefully. You just have to wait till it’s your time.

Ideal age differs in different parts of the world, some take adulthood starting from the age of 18, some take it at the beginning of puberty, starting at age 12, and to some maturity seems to be at its peak when you reach the age of 40.

These maturity stages are different for individuals, and there are a lot of reasons why some people get more mature even before getting to the actual maturity age, while some even after attaining adulthood age, still struggle and find it hard to cope with the responsibility that comes with maturity.

In some societies, when you get married, then you are seen to be fully mature and responsible. You are seen to have attained some level of maturity before you could decide to get married because it takes a lot of sacrifices to retain marital relationships. Patience, endurance, respect, morals, dedication, and many more.

Here in Nigeria, you are legally an adult once you attain the age of 18. You have the right to independence, can make personal decisions, have the right to work under the federal government, get married, and are also punishable under the constitutional law.

All ages below 18 are regarded as minors and underaged, no matter what you look like, or the posture you have on you. You are not entitled to some things and also won't get punished if you get yourself into some cases as a citizen of the country.

For example, in Nigeria, all ages below 18 years have no right to vote during the election or get a voter's card. But as soon as you clock 18 you have the right to make a choice on whom you decide is fit to be elected as your political candidate.

There are a lot of things embedded in becoming a majority. And I still see the stipulated age (18 years) as an ideal age to attain majority. At this stage, once you clock 18, you should have begun to see more to life than the childish look you have while a minority.

Also, one thing that adds to becoming a majority is the fact that you become more responsible and start handling some responsibilities. So 18 years of age is not so bad to handle that.

Not everyone gets mentally mature at that age as we differ in our personalities. We are created differently. You can’t compare yourself to others. Mentally, morally, physically, and psychologically, attaining maturity would differ.

Being mentally prepared, there are times when you get to face responsibilities at an early age, due to life circumstances and some inevitable occurrence. So at this point, no matter the age, such people need to be mentally prepared to take on those responsibilities earlier than required.

And in some other cases, some don't even know anything related to responsibilities, they get everything sorted out with ease. So these people might even be above the age of 30 and still find it difficult to attain independence. Maybe as a result of their upbringing and way of life.

Having an average age for maturity in different parts of the world is a good idea. But that should just be limited to some general reason and not based on the individual. The federal government's majority age should be focused on every other thing related to their citizens at that stage of their life. So we cannot use that to compare their way of life.

In conclusion, I believe age doesn’t matter when it comes to maturity, and this is because of our differences. There are times when you see a teenager act fully mature and responsible, and you get surprised to see some elderly ones despite the age and experience they might claim to have, still not mature enough to handle things.

Becoming an adult depends on age in some instances and it also doesn’t depend on age in some instances too. However, having a threshold for attaining maturity is important and cannot be overlooked.

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This is my response to the hive learners community weekly featured content on Hive for the week 112 edition 2 and the topic to be discussed is THE IDEAL ADULT AGE

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