“I Was Earning N12”: Skit Maker Motell Recounts How He Survived on Only Garri as a Teacher and More
- Skit maker Motell is one of the content creators who have captured the attention of many Nigerians with his short videos
- While he has been making skits since, he gained more prominence towards the end of 2025 and early 2026
- Recently, he spoke with Legit.ng's Olumide Alake, opening up about his love for Garri, his mentors, among others
Motell Solomon, simply known as Motell by fans as of 2026, is considered one of the raves of the moment in the skit-making industry.
With his less than one-minute skits, Motell has captured the hearts of many Nigerians, including celebrities, with different tactics of begging from his neighbours.
Source: Instagram
Motell's skits are mostly focused on him and a faceless neighbour, with the main quest to beg for food, mostly Garri.
The skit always ended with the neighbour shutting their doors on him after finding out his true intention.
Legit.ng recently interviewed Motell, and he opened up about his personal life, including an emotional story of how garri became his only food for a month as a teacher, among others.
Motell shares why his skits are less than one minute
According to Motell, the era of long skit videos is drawing to an end as the space gets saturated by new faces.
He added that people now have short attention spans, and a good skit maker must be able to hit the punchline in seconds or else viewers would move to another video.
Source: Instagram
"The era of a few-minute skits is coming to an end because the space is saturated. So we have to bring back seconds skits, you have to hit the punchline. I have been doing the short content for quite a while, and I am glad it is beginning to get the attention it needs," he said.
Motells shares how Garri saved him as a teacher
The skit maker, known for begging for cassava flakes, known as Garri, in many of his skits, revealed it was inspired by a personal experience.
Motell opened up about the struggles he faced after relocating from Calabar to Agege in Lagos in 2018, where he had to survive as a teacher.
"I was teaching in Calabar before I relocated to Lagos, so I needed to continue hustling to make ends meet, there was this school I applied for and the application was written on a paper that I bought with my last kobo. I literally had only N300 with me, which I use to buy a foolscap sheet and a pen to go and apply for the post of a teacher," he said.
Motell, who said he was paid the sum of N12k per month as salary, recounted how he had to meet a neighbour who sold foodstuffs to sell garri to him on credit.
"There was this neighbour I had, who sells provisions. I told her my salary is N12k, and I told her I don't know if she could help with a custard rubber of garri, and once the month ends, I will pay back. So it's been garri from the first day of resumption at work till the last date I was paid. It was the reason I looked back to create stories about the garri stuff," he said.
His plan to venture into Nollywood
The skit maker revealed he is already working on plans to start a YouTube series. He also expressed his desire to work with bigwigs like Kemi Adetiba, Omoni Oboli, Funke Akindele, and Iyabo Ojo.
"Nollywood is so big, who wouldn't want to work with the gurus in Nollywood. it is part of my dream. I started as a videographer, working behind the scenes. I shared my ideas with people, but they didn't buy it, so I started posting on my page, shout out to Don Jazzy and Tunde Ednut, they kept reposting," he said.
Motell names Mr Ibu among his mentors
According to the skit maker, content creator Frank Donga, who has since relocated to Canada, is his number one mentor.
"I wlll love to work with him, I saw myself doing what he did, the comic gestures are something I have been doing before I considered skit making,"
He mentioned the late Mr Ibu, actor Charles Inojie and skit maker Oga Sabinus among those he holds in high regard.
Skit maker Nkuka speaks on working with Sabinus
Nduka told Legit.ng he has been working with the popular skit maker for years, and it has been a splendid and awesome experience for him.
According to Nduka, Sabinus is God-sent to him, while adding that he is the kind of person everyone needs.
In his words:
"Sabinus is a friend, a father, a coach and a supporter."
Source: Legit.ng
