Wale Adenuga is the brains behind Papa Ajasco and Company and Super Story, two TV series that have been on the airwaves for over 40 years combined.
Adapted from Adenuga’s successful Ikebe Super comics from the 80s, Papa Ajasco and Company has been on air since 1996 while Super story, also adapted from a magazine of the same name Adenuga ran in the 80s, has been on air since 2001. How did the son of a tobacco seller become one of Nigeria’s most prolific TV producers?
Born on September 24, 1950 just outside Ile-Ife, Adenuga had his primary education in Ile-Ife before moving to Ibadan to attend the Ibadan City Academy for his secondary education. The son of a tobacco merchant, Adenuga was a brilliant student and ended up studying Business Administration at the University of Lagos (UNILAG).
It was during his time at UNILAG that he joined the school magazine as a cartoonist. Soon he was made Chief Cartoonist. After graduation and NYSC service, he launched his own comic called Ikebe Super. It was in this comic that he introduced characters such as the womaniser Papa Ajasco, illiterate Pa Jimoh, and playboy Boy Alinco. The gold digger Miss Pepeiye was introduced in later editions.
Ikebe Super was successful and Adenuga soon launched Super Story, which focused on satire, and Binta, a children’s publication. They were both successful in their own right but a downturn soon came with the economic conditions of the late 80s forcing Adenuga to switch gears and dive into film instead. In 1984, he launched Wale Adenuga Productions (WAP) through which he produced a Papa Ajasco movie before following up with a movie adaptation of the Binta comics, renamed Binta My Daughter, in 1995.
But movies weren’t cutting it so Adenuga created the Papa Ajasco and Company (originally The Ajasco Company) television series in 1996. He followed that with other series: Super Story, This Life, Binta My Daughter and Nnenna and Friends. Along with his wife Ehiwenma, he co-founded Binta International Schools on September 24, 1994 and launched the Pencils Film and Television Institute (PEFTI) in 2004. Wale Adenuga launched the WAPTV cable channel in October, 2012 and today it shows on 6 different cable platforms.
Over his illustrious career, Wale Adenuga has impacted many lives, achieved a lot of success and his creations are still reflecting in pop culture today, over two decades later. As a businessman and creative, there is a lot of inspiration to glean from Wale Adenuga. We stan.