Nigeria’s Treasury Bills market drew N2.46 trillion in subscriptions across two back-to-back auctions on December 3 and December 10, 2025, with investors overwhelmingly favouring the 364-day paper.
The combined bids highlight intense demand for government short-term debt even as yields on the one-year paper climbed sharply.
Across the two auctions, the subscription breakdown was:
91-day: N150.24 billion (6.1% of total)
- N44.17 billion (Dec 3)
- N106.07 billion (Dec 10)
182-day: N57.33 billion (2.3% of total)
- N33.37 billion
- N23.96 billion
364-day: N2.257 trillion (91.6% of total)
- N697.29 billion
- N1.56 trillion
Together, these subscriptions total N2.46 trillion.
By contrast, the government’s combined allotment across the two dates amounted to about N1.50 trillion.
One-year paper soaks up flows
The 364-day instrument dominated investor interest, attracting roughly N2.26 trillion of bids — more than 90% of cumulative demand.
Subscription to the one-year bill jumped 123.7% from N697.29 billion on Dec. 3 to N1.56 trillion on Dec. 10, a clear signal that fixed-income investors are chasing to lock-in longer-dated, higher-yielding government paper.
Shorter tenors behaved differently: the 91-day bill saw a strong 140.1% increase in demand between the two auctions (from N44.17bn to N106.07bn), while the 182-day paper recorded a 28.2% drop in bids (N33.37bn to N23.96bn), suggesting investors rotated cash into the shortest and the longest maturities.
Allotment and yields — supply cannot match demand
The allocation across both auctions left investors partially rationed. Cumulative allotments were:
- N146.16bn (91-day)
- N44.00bn (182-day)
- N1.31trn (364-day)
- Total: N1.50 trillion.
The one-year allotment alone was more than N1.3 trillion, but still well below bids.
Market pricing shows why: stop rates on Dec. 10 were 15.30% (91-day), 15.50% (182-day) and 17.95% (364-day), with the 364-day stop rate rising materially from earlier levels.
What it means
The twin auctions demonstrate robust domestic demand for sovereign paper and a market willing to accept higher yields for longer maturities.
The wide gap between cumulative subscriptions (N2.46 trillion) and allotment (N1.50 trillion) will keep pressure on allocation mechanics and may force the Debt Management Office and Central Bank to weigh supply adjustments if such appetite persists.
What you should know
The Federal Government has an aggressive domestic borrowing calendar for the last quarter of 2025 to fund the budget deficit.
It is partly the reason CBN announced a N4.72 trillion Treasury Bills issuance programme for the fourth quarter of 2025—a 168% increase from Q3. The programme, which runs from October to December, involves large-volume issuances across all tenors, including N3.15 trillion in 364-day bills alone.
The strong demand at the December auctions therefore, reflects not only rising yields but also investor positioning ahead of record government borrowing through end-2025.
