Makinde vows to cut 25% interest rates, boost South-East manufacturing
- Seyy Makinde, APM's 2027 presidential candidate, says he will tackle high interest rates and poor access to long-term loans.
- He spoke in Enugu at the last of his party's zonal consultations, promising to boost South-East manufacturing.
- His manifesto is due on November 4, and he urged Nigerians to reject ethnic and religious division.
Seyi Makinde, the Oyo State governor and presidential candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), has promised to bring down high interest rates and open up long-term financing if he is elected president in 2027.
He made the pledge at a town hall meeting with South-East stakeholders in Enugu, according to reports from Vanguard, The Sun and Leadership. The meeting was the last in the party's series of consultations across the country's six geopolitical zones.
Makinde said the South-East is known for trading, but that manufacturing is also strong in places like Onitsha and Nnewi in Anambra State. He argued that businesses cannot expand or hire in large numbers while borrowing costs stay high.
"You cannot expand manufacturing and employ millions of people when interest rates are at 25 per cent and long-term financing facilities are unavailable," he said.
He said his government would create conditions for businesses to grow, and would move the economy away from depending on the sharing of federal allocations towards production and job creation.
Drawing on his private-sector background, Makinde said he began paying workers' salaries at 29 and is now 58. He said easy access to long-term loans is one sign of an economy that is growing, but that Nigeria's banks mostly give short-term credit suited to trading.
Jobs, skills and a warning against division
The governor said his campaign has partnered with SkillResert Nigeria to train one million young Nigerians in skills meant to make them employable quickly. He also cited the new headquarters of Capital Sage, a conglomerate in Ibadan, as an example of the jobs businesses can create when conditions are right.
Makinde named four pillars of his plan: resetting the economy, restructuring security, reforming education and rebuilding the country's socio-political space. He said the party is building its manifesto from consultations with Nigerians rather than imposing policies from above, and that it will be launched on November 4, 2026.
He also questioned why the Federal Government keeps borrowing despite claims of improved revenue collection and large external reserves, saying economic management should show up in the lives of businesses and ordinary people.
Makinde urged voters to reject division along religious and ethnic lines, saying hardship does not recognise either. He asked the South-East to back his bid, noting the region's political weight.
The APM national chairman criticised the state of the economy and asked President Bola Tinubu to support Makinde's ambition, recalling Makinde's backing for Tinubu through the G5 governors in 2023. The campaign's Director-General, Felix Hyat, also asked South-East residents to support Makinde and praised his choice of a security expert as running mate.
What happens next: The APM says its manifesto will be unveiled on November 4, 2026. The party has now finished its zonal consultations, and Makinde says he will take his message to every part of the country.
