INTERVIEW: Why I created famous Tegwolo cartoon character

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 school the next day. I did not jump off as Superman from a building because I didn’t see a high building to jump off from. I was very stubborn. I was an intelligent kid, but I was stubborn. My knees were always dirty from being punished. I like to do what I see in movies. So, most of the things you see Tegwolo do are my personal stories. But to sell it at the time, I had to fashion him after a Warri character because they are considered stubborn. As for his long head, I had a classmate we used to call a bicycle seat head. Of course, I exaggerated it in the cartoon.

PT: How many views do you garner, and how does it translate to money?

Ajebo: I have a subscriber base of 1.9 million, but what converts to money is watching the videos. Not just your subscribers but the views. You can have fewer subscribers but have people who want to watch and go.

What happened was, over the years, we snowballed into a proper animation company. So, I have a team of animators and ensure that at least four monthly episodes go up on YouTube. So, it’s a lot of work and expenses, but the show must go on.

PT: Did you envision Tegwolo becoming this big?

Ajebo: Tegwolo was created as a cartoon brand. It’s a cartoon series, but children started latching on. Presently, Tegwolo is exporting our culture. I get a lot of feedback from ‘Ajebota’ children in the UK and the U.S. People say this is the closest touch of home their children have because they begin to speak a little pidgin once they start watching it. So now we are saying there is a vacuum somewhere.

Children need more African content. Remember, he who pays the piper dictates the tune. People who create cartoons abroad will do it according to their mindset, culture, and biases. Do you know comics have adopted modern-day family dynamics, like a kid with two dads? Those foreign dynamics are now being infused. We can either keep quiet or do something.

PT: How do you create the characters for your cartoons?

Ajebo: I have a first and second degree in Mass Communication. I was already doing stand-up comedy in my second year, but wanted to be unique. That was the era when Basketmouth started doing skits. I told myself that I wanted to be able to do this. I noted somewhere that I would crack jokes using animation. That was the beginning of my journey.

While still in school, I was also reasonable enough to work closely with AY and met an animator. That was how we produced our first sets of characters. I was the main character. But after a while, we wanted to do something more unique, and Tegwolo came in 2016.

But right now, where we are, we are expanding to the point where we can be the Disney of Africa. That’s what we’re trying to do. There are several things that we have put out. We have worked on it.

PT: As an animator, are you restricting yourself to YouTube?

Ajebo: We are not limiting ourselves, but for now, we are on YouTube. It is better to do it on YouTube. No pressure. That’s why I said that technology created a disruption. If you had to do it on TV, we have to buy airtime and look for sponsors. But with YouTube, we have the platform already. YouTube has about two billion active subscribers.

The advert is already waiting for you. Could you get attention on your brand? So, that’s why we are starting with YouTube. You may even make more than you want to go and discuss with the cable channel. When the time comes, when the time is right, you will see our movie. At the right time, with the right partnerships and collaborations, you will see us on other platforms.

PT: Where do you draw inspiration for your skits?

Ajebo: I have always been creative. I have always loved to tell stories. And, with my comedy background, I just wanted everything to be about comedy. I resigned from radio in 2016 and became a full-time entrepreneur. So, right now, my children are inspiring me.

If you take your eyes away for a second, one advert with adult content might pop up, so I must constantly monitor them. So, they are my biggest inspiration right now. They are my first audience; I look at them and will give you enough content to keep you going. It’s time we let children be children. That’s my slogan because we are forcing a ‘Buga’ on our children. These are adult songs with no disrespect to the music.

PT: Tell us about your fatherhood journey

Ajebo: So that is something that has changed my life forever. I have three girls. Three adorable daughters. I work from home, so I am like a stay-at-home dad; they always have access to me. I spend a lot of time with them. They want to be with me at all times. They want to argue when they come to me. Fatherhood has saddled me with a serious responsibility. I only go out to a few places I want to go usually. I had perfect parents who invested in me. I have that connection with them and am intentional about every phase of their growth. I spend a lot of time with them. If they learn a new word, I know. That is how close I am to my girls. I am so close to them; they say I’m a great dad.

PT: What’s next for the House of Ajebo

Ajebo: Right now, we’re going into the children’s educational learning and entertainment. We have realised that we only have a little made-in-Nigeria or made-in-Africa content for children regarding education. When we were little, we had Superman, Spider-Man and all that, and our children are watching the same thing, and they are shaping their mindset whether we believe it or not. Every cartoon we saw was white guys being superheroes, so somehow, he gave us the impression that if we want to be great, we have to want to speak like them. We want our children to be comfortable in their skin and accent and learn values as Nigerians. Let them see, admire, and want to be like us. That’s what.

Secondly, we’ve realised that people and if you go to children’s parties, you hear adult songs. When last did you go to a children’s party, and they played child-friendly songs from the beginning to the end? We are bridging that gap. We have created a library of over 200 Afrobeats songs that you can do a full children’s party for hours and play what children should be listening to. We’ll reveal more as time goes on.

READ ALSO: MOVIE REVIEW: In Bed With The Pedros; another Nollywood film that ignores potential of solid storytelling

PT: The songs on your playlist, are they all yours?

Ajebo: Yes, they are all part of the Ajebo collection. After the lockdown, while doing Tegwolo, we created nursery rhymes and essential theme songs. We made those songs after the lockdown, but somehow, Tegwolo took over. So we let Tegwolo play out its time well. Tegwolo showed us that children, African kids, and the world are interested in our local content.

Look at Wakanda, and it’s not our story. But the plot is African. It’s one of the highest-grossing movies of all time. Could you look at Woman King? The world wants to see the African effect. But we who have the story are not doing anything about it. It’s almost like neocolonialism all over again. So, we are out to tell the African story…