With the rise of skit making in the country, one would have thought that Plateau State will take the centre stage because it is known to be the home of comedy and entertainment in general. In fact, the initial Nigerian movies and soap operas were shot in the state, especially in Jos, the state capital.
With the natural good climatic condition, rocks formations, hills, waterfalls and other splendid sceneries across the state, it is truly a place for film making. All that opened up a lot of superb entertainment talents in the state. But the question agitating everyone’s mind is: why is Jos so full of entertainment talents, but yet the industry is not flourishing?
Several explanations abound on this over the years, yet it is still the same story year-in year-out. Even before the advent of ethno-religious violence in the state which has affected other industries as well, the entertainment industry had remained underdeveloped.
As a result, most talents make the state a breeding ground and thereafter look for greener pasture in places like Lagos where there is good funding for entertainment, promoters, and other beneficial engagements.
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Comedy too became an integral part of entertainment in the state, whether as stand up or film comedy, compere etc. So, it was expected that skit making (short comedy) which has become popular now should have a solid base on the Plateau despite the broader challenge with the entertainment industry, reason being that skit making is much easier.
As long as one has good content, good phone, you can do your skit and post on any online platform until you begin to get recognized with considerable followers, societal or organizational goodwill, promoters, among others. Undoubtedly, skit making became the first self produced and promoted comedy that has ever rocked the country.
It does not require cast, crew, technical team, equipment, post-production editing, costing, special location, special effect or soundtrack, and all that. All one requires is just a good phone, internet access and one or two friends. Other times, some do a ‘one man’ skit by using their phone in a way of taking a selfie.
One of the skit makers in Jos, Kalbang Afsa, bares her mind on the state of skit making in Plateau/Jos. Afsa, who is popularly known as Kalbang Maman Mu, is a graduate of Theatre and Film Arts from the University of Jos, and she is married with kids.
She said her skit started in 2019 and was politically motivated. It tilted to promoting a candidate from an unpopular party, but as a result members of other popular parties or those with different candidates began frowning upon her skit and others ever pointed out that they won’t listen to it.
As a result, she said she decided to change style and recorded a video where she talked about PVC, but later technically introduced her candidate in the video, and in 24 hours, she got two thousand views. Afterwards, she did more until she became a popular skit maker in the state.
She described skit making as a short and straight-to-the point filming containing humour. In making her skits, she first thinks of real life issues and every day problems and make skits out of them, while at the same time trying to suggest solution in a comic way.
On the state of skit making in Jos, she said: “Skit making may have just started gaining attention in Jos, and if Jos people enter fully into it, there will be an explosion of skit makers in and around Jos. It is currently trying to gain ground, and more people are beginning to be interested in it. So, it is gradually picking up.
“The challenge for me is basically availability of funds, and a wholly dedicated crew and team one can do a skit drive with. I believe that once skit making starts paying, it will be easy to get hands to push the work. Once it starts to yielding financial fruit, it will naturally attract the much-needed attention. Though for now it is a very friendly kind of outfit I must say.”
She said her projection is to develop the skit industry in the state and by extension generate employment for the youths and people of the state generally.
Another skit maker, Mc Youngee, said Jos is one of the best and safest places to shoot a skit and Plateau as a whole is an entertainment hub, hence the beautiful reception people enjoy when creating content.
He noted that he actually started in 2015 after graduating from the university and awaiting the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme. He said he had this particular joke that won’t leave his mind and won’t allow new ones in, so he made a skit with it.
According to him, since skit making is relatively shorter compared to other comedy films or production and it is very flexible, with most of it not been scripted, he began gravitating towards it and draws his inspiration from everywhere, like happenings around, news, conversations, thoughts, etc. Although, he said, he is still more of a stand-up comedian than a skit comedian.
He said Jos skit makers haven’t been doing so badly but there’s room for more, and that they have good skit makers, raw talents who always want to give their best. He said the state is still thriving with one of the early viral skits that came out of Jos city ‘why shall I shy’.
However, Mc Youngee said most skit makers face numerous challenges, among which are shooting and editing to a perfect finish, as some editors edit the punchline out. Another challenge, he said, is promoting the content which is mostly high in cost, as well as the issue of plagiarism which he described as the biggest problem in the industry.
On his part, Godwin Alechenu Ogah, who is popularly known by his stage name Funny Gee, said skit making hasn’t been very easy in Jos because the sensitization is not fully understood and so people don’t have value and respect for that aspect of art in Jos. As a result, it is difficult to collaborate with the people, since they have more respect for the movie industry.
“In a nutshell, the challenges with skit making in Plateau/Jos is lack of sensitization, lack of acceptance, lack of collaboration and lack of enabling environment. These challenges can however be surmounted by being intentional about growing this industry, and working towards changing the way content creation is being viewed. When value is placed on it, growth will be inevitable, and skit making on the Plateau will become acceptable,” he said.
According to him, his skit ideas are mostly inspired from real life events/everyday happenings in the society.
He advised intending and future skit makers to keep on pushing and not give up because it will only get better.
Commenting on the issue, a Creative Director of Community Network Reporters, and a bigwig in the entertainment industry in Plateau State, Onotu David Onimisi, said the skit-making industry has become the fastest-growing industry in Nigeria’s entertainment space, with comedy skits exposing a lot of young talents and creating numerous job opportunities, while also helping creative Nigerians maximize the use of social media.
He said in a nation where 63 percent of its over 200 million population are living in multidimensional poverty and a high unemployment rate, skit making can just come to an urgent rescue in filling some gaps.
He called on the government to support the industry across the states, and that if Plateau State government can also key into this, the result will be fantastic and the abundant comedy talents in the state will be rejuvenated.
This according to him will reduce redundancy and unemployment among the youths in the state, drug abuse among other anti social vices engaged in by young persons.
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