Growing Port Harcourt Multi-billion Naira Comedy Industry Attracts Global Attention

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

The comedy industry in Port Harcourt is speculated to have grown into multi-billion naira per year business and is now attracting global attention, viewership, and foreign sponsorships.

This is as Talkoholic Unlimited, organisers of the Port Harcourt biggest indoor comedy show, ‘Mayor of Pitakwa Comedy Show’, has kick-started early plans for a spectacular event in 2026.

Mayor of Pitakwa Comedy Show which is hosted by a popular Port Harcourt-based comedian, Mr. Johnson Johnson (KO Baba), is held around April every year in the city of Port Harcourt.

Speaking at the unveiling of the theme for the 2026 event and its sponsor, yesterday, founder of Talkoholic Unlimited, KO Baba announced the 2026 theme of the event as, “KO Baba and His 12 Kings.”

He explained that for the event in 2026, he will be featuring 12 topflight artists from 12 cities in Nigeria, adding that the events would also be streamed in the cities of origin of the invited artists.

KO Baba also used the event to unveil one of his partners, Sollong, which he said is a mobile device that pays users for patronising their device.

For 2026, the foreign android phone brand, Sollong, is said to have snapped the headline sponsor of the event billed for Easter Monday, 2026, while other sponsors are said to line up for slots.

Already, the annual show is said to make waves outside Nigeria to the extent that some foreign sponsors have indicated interest to use the show to reach the youths of the Niger Delta, after allegedly reviewing past performances where halls were filled up and tickets sold out days before the shows.

This is said to have boosted other comedy shows in the Garden City that also attract large sellouts and international attention.

Revealing the secrets of Port Harcourt entertainment industry, the Comedian-In-Chief, said he deploys local talents to occupy at least 80% of the comedians that would feature in ‘Mayor of Pitakwa’ shows every year.

He said he is bent on building the comedy industry in Port Harcourt to compete with those of the biggest cities in the world.

He said: “My desire is to promote local content and show that you must not have to move over to Lagos as only way to succeed in the entertainment industry. It makes the local talents better and bigger. We want to show that your environment cannot limit you. It’s you that can limit yourself.”

KO Baba said his brand has become so strong globally that some teams from the United Nations agencies sought him and one other comedian out as platforms that have achieved consistency and are strong enough to reach the youths.

The Port Harcourt-based AkwaIbom-born performer declared he stood to defy the notion that a talent must flee to Lagos to make it in the entertainment industry. “Without fleeing to Lagos, I have made it, and I want to make it bigger in April 2026. Big brands are now backing us.”

On what would make 2026 different and stronger, he said: “We shall stream the show in 12 cities and each city will produce a top comedian to participate. Activities will stretch to two days but main comedy day will be one day, Easter Monday.”

He declared: “Port Harcourt will no longer play second fiddle as far as comedy is concerned. We give our sponsors huge visibility, not just on the brochure but on about 200 billboards around the city for 2026.”

He described the partnership with Sollong as sustainable and an added value to his brand.

“I have to partner with a brand that has social value because what Sollong is offering has social value. It has the ability to help people also earn outside using the regular phones and the partnership is very sustainable,” he added.

Giving insight into what Sollong offers, Solomon Esor, Founder of Crypto Consulting Limited, distributors of the Sollong device, explained that Sollong is a Web3 phone that mines cryptocurrency and other digital products to pay users of the device.

“Sollong has discovered that Nigeria has a population that uses phones and most of the phones they are using doesn’t pay them, so this company has designed a phone that can actually pay one percent of the cost price every single day. So, if you acquire the phone, it will mine cryptocurrency and they will pay you one percent cost every day and I think it’s something worth it,” he stated.

Responding to inquiries about the validity and sustainability of the device and its offers, Esor stated the device has undergone the required certification from relevant regulatory agencies.

“There are scams not only in Nigeria but everywhere in the world and so there are regulators also working to sanitize the industry, particularly for cryptocurrency. Recently, there are regulations all over the world and one of such regulatory agencies is MICA and we are working with them”, Esor added.