COVER
Helping Nigerian Teenage Girls Overcome Anxiety
By Nuhu Muye
In the last decade, rates of anxiety-related disorders among teenagers in the world have steadily risen, particularly in girls. Researchers and psychologists posit several hypotheses about why these rates are on the rise from digital hyper-connectivity to heightened external pressures to simply a greater awareness, and therefore diagnosis, of mental health concerns.
Whatever the causes, there is hopeful news for parents and teens: first, some degree of stress and anxiety is not only normal but essential for human growth. And if those levels become untenable, there are tested strategies for reining anxiety back in.As a guidance counsellor, I have spent decades working with adolescent girls and their families in Nigeria.
In recent years, I have noticed a change in how society views stress. “Somehow, a misunderstanding has grown up about stress and anxiety where our culture now sees both as pathological.” The upshot of that is that we have adults and young people who are stressed about being stressed and anxious about being anxious.Anxiety is a normal and healthy function, and much of the anxiety that Nigeria teenagers express is a sign that they are aware of their surroundings, mindful of their growing responsibilities, and frightened of things that are, in fact, scary. Adults can make a difference simply by “reassuring them that, a great deal of time, stress is just operating as a friend and ally to them.”
Change and stress go hand in hand even if a change is positive. Teenagers’ lives are filled with change: Their bodies and brains are transforming, they usually switch schools at least once between ages five and 12; their academic workload is increasing, and social relationships are constantly evolving. The anxiety that comes with stretching to face these and other challenges is part of how humans develop strength. When I talk with teenage girls, I use the metaphor of exercise: To develop physical strength, you have to slowly push your levels of physical endurance, building up strength through resistance training. Similarly, you should see (a challenge) as an extraordinary weight-training programme for your mind. You are going to walk out of it tougher and stronger than you have ever been.
Stress, emotion and the teenage girls’ brain sometimes reach levels that impede a teenage girl’s ability to navigate life effectively. Thus, one cautions that an emotional outburst in and of itself is not a reliable indicator of mental health. “If you are raising a normally developing teenage daughter, she will have meltdowns. And there’s nothing you can do to prevent that.”
Of course, when it’s your daughter who is sobbing on the bathroom floor, it’s hard to keep this in perspective. When it’s your kid, it’s terrifying and alot of parents are frightened and paralysed in that moment. They wonder: Is this a sign that something is really wrong or that my kid is really out of control?
This is where a little neuroscience might be helpful, the adolescent brain is very gawky and vulnerable to emotion. That gawkiness stems from the extraordinary brain development that happens in adolescence. The brain is upgrading, but in the same order as it initially developed from the more primitive regions that house emotions to the more sophisticated regions that regulate perspective and problem-solving. The result? “When she’s calm, a teenage girl can out-reason any adult. When she’s upset, her primitive regions can hijack the whole system and take it down.”
When your daughter is emotionally overwhelmed, give her a little time. It’s easy to see a meltdown as a fire that’s about to turn into a conflagration. But a storm is a more accurate metaphor. You can’t stop a storm, but you have to wait it out. But these storms do pass. The brain will reset itself. Don’t try to stop the storm or fix it in the moment.
Instead, sit with her, go on a walk together, watch a funny show, or offer her a cup of tea, advise her. After weathering a few storms successfully, “parents and teenagers get to discover that all by itself, the storm will pass. At that point, either the problem completely evaporates and she moves on, or the girl can now look at the problem with clear eyes, assesses it with her prefrontal lobe back online, and figures out what she wants to do.” Responding instead of reacting to teenage girls is particularly sensitive to the cues they receive from parents and teachers from words to facial expressions. How adults respond to teens’ emotional reactions matters a lot. When adults become anxious in response to a teen’s anxiety, it exacerbates the situation.
Helping girls weather stress storms can be excruciating for parents, and she understands the almost primal desire to alleviate the pain, solve the problem for them or remove the stressor such as letting them stay home from school if they are anxious about a test. But avoidance feeds anxiety. Girls often feel stressed because they overestimate the difficulty of a situation and underestimate their ability to deal with it. When they avoid a situation, they miss the opportunity to correct that perception and recognise their own strength. Thus, these two words will be helpful in helping to keep teens in the driver’s seat: “stinks” and “handle.” The concept of “stinks” is a very simple phrase that cuts right through it. It says, ‘I hear you and I’m just going to sit here for a moment and acknowledge that what you are up against isn’t that great. However, empathy goes very, very far in helping them contain what is upsetting them.
Often, there is no simple solution to a stressor, so the next step may simply be acceptance -acceptance of the situation and of their strength to persist through it. It’s the ability to say to yourself, ‘This stinks, but this is something I can handle.’ While on the other hand, the word “handle” is empowering. Girls learn that “by enduring this, she will be able to endure more down the line. She can build up her capacity to handle unpleasant situations.”
Build in recovery time for teenage girls strength training, “you can’t just lift weights day after day after day.” In order to get the full benefits from the workout, your muscles need a chance to recover and repair. The same holds true for the brain. If teens accept that some level of stress is inevitable, they can spend less time worrying about stress and more time focusing on how they can build in recovery time.
“The good news is your mind recovers a lot faster than your muscles do. But you need to restore yourself so you can go right back in for another workout. Your job is to figure out how you like to recover. What’s the system that really works for you?” For some teens, playing sports gives them the reboot they need to focus on academics. Another student might benefit from a watching a 22-minute episode of a sitcom, playing with peers, going on a walk or listening to a favourite music playlist.
Having conversations with stressed-out teens about this type of downtime redirects the attention away from the stress and towards the recovery. Students can’t always control the stressors in their life, but they can have a say over how they choose to restore themselves. Researchers and psychologists have shown that the restorative power of sleep is a deprivation that reveals the simplest explanations for the rise in anxiety-related concerns. “Sleep is the glue that holds human beings together.”
The research is unambiguous: When we are sleep-deprived, we are less emotionally resilient. The first question many clinicians ask teens who come in for anxiety is, “How much sleep are you getting?” If they are consistently getting less than seven or eight hours, that’s the first line of intervention. “Teenagers need nine hours a night, middle-schoolers need 10, and elementary students need 11.”
When it comes to sleep, small changes can make a big difference, including completing as much homework as they can during the school day, making judicious choices about how much time they spend on any given assignment, and monitoring social media use in the evening. “Technology is very hard on sleep.” “I’m not anti-social media, but it makes a tremendous difference for teens to not have a phone and computer in the bedroom at night. Teenagers have texts waking them up.”
Because of the melatonin-suppressing effects of blue light emitted from Smartphone screens and other devices, I encourage teens to turn off social media notifications well before going to sleep. But it’s not just the blue light. “Girls will often see something on social media that will keep them up at night and if you ask them, they’ll usually admit this.”
Within that context, adults can offer teenagers empathy, grounded perspectives and a vote of confidence as they work through challenges, helping them aim for courage and not avoidance.
Brave is a positive word, it’s something we aspire to be and built into the word is the understanding that the person is scared and yet they are doing something anyway. Scared is here to stay. Anxiety is part of life. It’s not our job to vanquish these feelings. It’s our job to develop the resources we need to march forward anyway.
*Muye sent this piece from Dutsen-Kura, Minna
By Mike Odiakose, Abuja
Immediate past governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello will spend the 2024 Christmas and 2025 New Year days in Kuje prison, Abuja, following refusal of his bail application by the Federal Capital Territory High Court.
Justice Maryann Anenih yesterday adjourned the case until Jan.
29, Feb. 25, and Feb. 27, 2025 for the continuation of the hearing.The former governor is standing trial, along with two others, in an N110 billion money laundering charge brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Justice Anenih had refused to grant a bail application filed by Bello, saying it was filed prematurely.
The judge admitted Umar Oricha and Abdulsalam Hudu, to bail in the sum of N 300 million each with two sureties.
Justice Anenih, while delivering a ruling said, having been filed when Bello was neither in custody nor before the court, the instant application was incompetent.
“Consequently, the instant application having been filed prematurely is hereby refused,” she said.
Recalling the arguments before the court on the bail application, the judge had said, “before the court is a motion on notice, dated and filed on Nov. 22.
“The 1st Defendant seeks an order of this honourable court admitting him to bail pending the hearing and determination of the charge.
“That he became aware of the instant charge through the public summons. That he is a two-term governor of Kogi State. That if released on bail, he would not interfere with the witnesses and not jump bail.”
She said the Defendant’s Counsel, JB Daudu, SAN, had told the court that he had submitted sufficient facts to grant the bail.
He urged the court to exercise its discretion judicially and judiciously to grant the bail.
Opposing the bail application, the Prosecution Counsel, Kemi Pinheiro, SAN, argued that the instant application was grossly incompetent, having been filed before arraignment.
He said it ought to be filed after arraignment but the 1st Defendant’s Counsel disagreed, saying there was no authority
“That says that an application can only be filed when it is ripe for hearing.”
Justice Anenih held that the instant application for bail showed that it was filed several days after the 1st defendant was taken into custody.”
Citing the ACJA, the judge said the provision provided that an application for bail could be made when a defendant had been arrested, detained, arraigned or brought before the court.
Bello had filed an application for his bail on November 22 but was taken into custody on November 26 and arraigned on Nov. 27.
From Jude Dangwam, Jos
Conference of Autochthonous Ethnic Nationalities Community Development Association (CONAECDA) has called on the federal government to intensify efforts in the resettlement of displaced persons in their ancestral homes.
The organization made this call at the end of its conference held in Jos, the Plateau State Capital weekend.
Thirty resolutions were passed covering security, economy, politics, governance, culture, languages, human rights and indigenous peoples’ rights among others.
The Conference President, Samuel Achie and Secretary Suleman Sukukum in a communique noted that the conference received and discussed reports from communities based on which resolutions were reached on securing, reconstruction, rehabilitation and returning communities displaced by violence across the Middle Belt.
“After considering the reports from communities displaced by violent conflicts, conference resolved, and called on government to focus on providing security to deter further displacements.
“Call on government to provide security to enable communities to return. Government and donor partners should assist in reconstructing and returning displaced communities,” the communique stated.
The GOC 3 Armoured Division Nigeria Army represented by Lt Col Abdullahi Mohammed said the Nigerian Army is committed to working closely with communities to achieve a crime-free society, urging communities to support them with credible information.
“Security is a collective effort, and we cannot do it alone, the community plays a crucial role in ensuring safety.
“We urge everyone here not to shield or protect individuals involved in criminal activities. Transparency and collaboration, together, with maximum cooperation, we can achieve peace, security, and prosperity for our society,” the GOC stated.
The National Coordinator of CONECDA, Dr. Zuwaghu Bonat in his address at the gathering noted that the theme of this year’s program, Returning, Resettling, and Rehabilitating Displaced Communities, was chosen as a wakeup call on the federal government.
He maintained that the organization is aware that President Bola Tinubu has expressed a commitment to ensuring that displaced communities return to their ancestral lands.
He said similarly, some state governments, including Plateau State, have set up committees to address the lingering matter.
The coordinator however cautioned, “It is critical that we avoid generalizations or profiling. For instance, Not all Muslims are involved in terrorism. The overwhelming majority of Muslims in Nigeria are peaceful and reject extremist ideologies.
“We also know that some terrorists exploit religion to mobilize support or rationalize their actions. However, their atrocities – slaughtering women, cutting open pregnant mothers, and killing children show a profound disregard for humanity and God. Normal human beings would not commit such acts.
“We must also be cautious about lumping banditry with terrorism. While statistics indicate that many bandits and kidnappers may share similar ethnic backgrounds, kidnapping has now evolved into a profit-driven enterprise. This distinction is vital to address the root causes effectively,” he stated.
The Governor of Plateau State, Caleb Mutfwang represented by his Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Middle Belt Nationalities, Hon Daniel Kwada noted that the conference was apt to addressed the various underlying issues bedeviling the region and its people.
“We in the Middle Belt have long been standing at the crossroads of Nigeria’s complex history. Despite our tireless efforts to stabilize this nation, we have faced immense challenges, including underdevelopment, security issues, and marginalization.
“Often, we are unfairly maligned, but gatherings like this offer a chance to change the narrative.
“Such conferences set the tone for better discussions. They allow us to drive processes that bring development, ensure security, and elevate our people to greater heights,” Mutfwang noted.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has called on banks to reinforce their corporate governance principles and risk management frameworks to boost investor confidence during the ongoing recapitalisation exercise.
Dr Emomotimi Agama, Director-General, SEC, said this at the yearly workshop of the Capital Market Correspondents Association of Nigeria (CAMCAN) held in Lagos.
The theme of the workshop is: “Recapitalisation: Bridging the Gap between Investors and Issuers in the Nigerian Capital Market”.
Agama, represented by the Divisional Head of Legal and Enforcement at the SEC, Mr John Achile, stated that the 2024–2026 banking sector recapitalisation framework offers clear guidance for issuers while prioritising the protection of investors’ interests
He restated the commission’s commitment towards ensuring transparency and efficiency in the recapitalisation process.
The director-general stated that the key to bridging the gap between issuers and investors remained the harnessing of innovation for inclusive growth.
In view of this, Agama said, “SEC, through the aid of digital platform, is exploring the integration of blockchain technology for secure and transparent transaction processing to redefine trust in the market.”
He added that the oversubscription of most recapitalisation offers in 2024 reflects strong investor confidence.
To sustain this momentum, the director-general said that SEC had intensified efforts to enhance disclosure standards and corporate governance practices.
According to him, expanding financial literacy campaigns and collaborating with fintech companies to provide low-entry investment options will democratise access to the capital market.
He assured stakeholders of the commission’s steadfastness in achieving its mission of creating an enabling environment for seamless and transparent capital formation.
“Our efforts are anchored on providing issuers with clear guidelines and maintaining open lines of communication with all market stakeholders, reducing bureaucratic bottlenecks through digitalisation.
“We also ensure timely review and approval of applications, and enhancing regulatory oversight to protect investors while promoting market integrity,” he added.
Agama listed constraints to the exercise to include: addressing market volatility, systemic risks, limited retail participation as well as combating skepticism among investors who demand greater transparency and accountability.
He said: “We are equally presented with opportunities which include leveraging technology to deepen financial inclusion and enhance market liquidity.
“It also involves developing innovative financial products, such as green bonds and sukuk, to attract diverse investor segments.
“The success of recapitalisation efforts depends on collaboration among regulators, issuers, and investors.”
Speaking on market infrastructure at the panel session, Achile said SEC provides oversight to every operations in the market, ranging from technology innovations to market.
He stated that the commission is committed to transparency and being mindful of the benefits and risks associated with technology adoption.
Achile noted that SEC does due diligence to all the innovative ideas that comes into the market to ensure adequate compliance with the requirements.
On the rising unclaimed dividend figure, Achile blamed the inability of investors to comply with regulatory requirements and information gap.
He noted that SEC had done everything within its powers to ensure that investors receive their dividend at the appropriate time.
He, however, assured that the commission would continue to strengthen its dual role of market regulation and investor protection to boost confidence in the market.
In her welcome address, the Chairman of CAMCAN, Mrs Chinyere Joel-Nwokeoma, said banks’ recapitalisation is not just a regulatory requirement, but an opportunity to rebuild trust, strengthen the capital market, and drive sustainable growth.
Joel-Nwokeoma stated that the recent recapitalisation in the banking sector had brought to the fore the need for a more robust and inclusive capital market.
She added that as banks seek to strengthen their balance sheets and improve their capital adequacy ratios, it is imperative to create an environment that fosters trust, transparency, and cooperation between investors and issuers.
The chairman called for collaboration to bridge the gap between investors and issuers to create a more inclusive and vibrant Nigerian capital market.She said: “we must work together to strengthen corporate governance and risk management practices in banks, enhance disclosure and transparency requirements for issuers.” NAN
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