Edgar Eriakha: From Theatre Arts, broadcaster, to creative personality

When he graduated from the Theatre Arts department of University of Lagos, Edgar Eriakha was open to career opportunities.

His creative spirit pushed him to become a job creator rather than looking for one.

From producing social media content, writing on his blog at checkedgar.com, and running a series that had quietly built him a devoted following, Eriakha was just doing his thing; creating things and happily doing that.

But he never thought of a career in the broadcasting industry as a television presenter and host.

Today, Eriakha, a proud son of a poultry farmer, is the face to behold, voice to hear and a sought-after host on TVC Entertainment.

He is the host of ‘Wake Up Nigeria’, an exciting programme that offers viewers a platform for conversations, entertainment, and everything they need to kick-start their morning.

Though a Theatre Art graduate, his first experience on television was not easy. Recalling his first week on the ‘Wake Up Nigeria’ set, he noted that he did not present, he rather watched from the production control room, and observed the show’s behind the camera.

Probably, that was the tutelage he needed and that kept him improving on every edition of the programme.

But when he finally set for the job, he was truly unveiled. “My first day presenting was hilarious,” he recalled again with laughter.

As expected, he made a lot of mistakes due to being nervous, and even wanted the ground to swallow him.

Despite his nervousness, he sailed through as Wake Up Nigeria allows for freedom and style, which also covered his initial mistakes. “That saved me,” he confessed.

Riding on his success with ‘Wake Up Nigeria’, Eriakha moved on with additional responsibility.

He now hosts ‘Inside Quick Kash’, TVC Entertainment’s new money game show with a N500,000 jackpot.

Every Monday and Friday at 1:30 pm to 2 pm, his growing viewership base and followers on social media stay glued to their screens for Quick Kash, which has been impacting wallets.

Four Nigerians have walked away with life-changing cash prizes since the launch of the high-energy game, including a winner on its very first episode, and they were all grateful to Eriakha for being a good host.

Beyond his feats at ‘Wake Up Nigeria’, Eriakha did not stumble into becoming the host of Quick Kash by chance. He worked for it, went for an audition, a closed and invitation only audition for that matter, and yet he sailed through.

His energy on ‘Wake Up Nigeria’ was a vote of confidence, as well as what made the producers of Quick Kash to engage him in the new role.

Today, his mother, a poultry farmer at Ibadan, Oyo State, glues her eyes on the screen to watch every edition of her son’s presentation, even if it is half way, and she is proud of what her Edgar has become today.

But he gives credit to the person that reached out to him from TVC asking if he would love to audition for a role as a presenter for ‘Wake Up Nigeria’ despite having no prior knowledge of broadcasting.

He also appreciated the masterclass at TVC, the grooming and training him, and the space to learn a craft he had never formally studied.

Aside from sitting in the hall of fame of Nigerian television presenters, he is a podcast host, actor, and voiceover artist. His podcast, ‘Why Am I Still Single?’ has over 130,000 downloads and a fanbase known as the CheckMates. He is also the founder of Ragde Space Limited and runs the multimedia platform checkedgar.com.

Truly, the learning curve has been steep in unexpected ways for Eriakha.