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Nigeria, Oct. 21 -- If you are a fan of Nigerian animation, especially on YouTube, you may have come across Tegwolo, the naughty Warri kid who is always up to some mischief.
So popular is the series that it has been cited as a means of teaching Nigerian children abroad and even foreigners how to speak pidgin English.
However, only a few know that the character is a creation of comedian and former radio personality Emeka Erem, who goes by the name Ajebo.
In this interview with Premium Times, Ajebo talks about his career trajectory, the influence his daughters have had on him, and his plans for the Nigerian animation industry.
PT: Animation in Nigeria is capital-intensive and less financially rewarding. How have you been able to sustain it?
Ajebo: I started House of Ajebo in 2013. I broke even in 2021. So, for those years, I was making the skits for the love of it. The day I have money, I will make and post. It trended about a year after I posted the first video. It was after the lockdown that it started to pick up. I had even started giving up on it.
I didn't have the money to do it. After the lockdown, this was the only thing I could do from home. There were no shows. And then we started afresh, and we became very consistent. In one year, between 2020 and 2021, we moved from 120,000 subscribers to one million subscribers. Meanwhile, I have been doing it since 2013. I uploaded my first Tegwolo skit in 2016, but I needed more consistency.
PT: Since you don't hail from Delta State, how did you pull the Tegwolo character off?
Ajebo: A lot of people will see me and commend my pidgin. You know how comedy became popular when everybody wanted to centre their comedy around Warri. Everybody wanted to speak Warri Pidgin. But first of all, Tegwolo is my story. I was stubborn as a child. I was a prayer point for my mother. I was a third child, but I was that child who must replicate anything I watched.
And I liked Jackie Chan a lot, so if he kicks somebody's stomach in a movie, I kick somebody in...