CBN to sell N500 billion in final Q3 T-Bills auction, see deadline for bids

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), acting for the Debt Management Office (DMO), has put out a call for banks and investors to bid for N500 billion worth of government Treasury Bills, to be sold on Wednesday, September 23, 2026 — the final Treasury Bills auction of the third quarter (Q3) 2026.

The notice obtained by Nairametrics directed all Money Market Dealers to send in their bids through the CBN’s S4 Web Interface between 8:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, September 23, 2026.

Successful bidders will get their allotment letters on Thursday, September 24, 2026, and must pay into their CBN account by 11:00 a.m. that same day.

What the data is saying:

The N500 billion on offer is split as N100 billion for the 91-day bill, N100 billion for the 182-day bill, and N300 billion for the 364-day bill — matching the size of the previous auction and keeping this final Q3 offer well below the N700 billion that had been the standard size for most of the quarter.

• 91-day bill: N100 billion on offer
• 182-day bill: N100 billion on offer
• 364-day bill: N300 billion on offer
• Total offer: N500 billion
• Each bid must be a multiple of N1,000, with a minimum bid of N50,001,000.
• Dealers can send in more than one bid, and can bid on behalf of themselves, other dealers, or ordinary members of the public.
• The auction result is expected on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, with allotment letters coming out the next day, Thursday, September 24.

Payment for any bid that wins must reach the CBN by 11:00 a.m. on September 24. As always, the CBN can turn down any bid that doesn’t meet expectation, and can also change the amount on offer if market conditions call for it.

Get up to speed: the Q3 NTB calendar

This auction closes out the CBN’s Q3 2026 Nigerian Treasury Bills Issuance Programme, which had targeted N5.8 trillion in gross issuance between July and September, more than four times the net target set for the previous quarter.

The full quarter’s programme comprised N900 billion in 91-day bills, N900 billion in 182-day bills, and N4 trillion in 364-day bills, with the one-year instrument accounting for about 69% of planned issuance.

Roughly N2.644 trillion in Treasury Bills was scheduled to mature during the quarter, comprising N550.83 billion in 91-day bills, N503.19 billion in 182-day bills, and N1.591 trillion in 364-day bills — meaning the programme implied an estimated net new borrowing of about N3.16 trillion for the quarter.

Through the quarter, the CBN held auctions on July 8, July 15, July 29, August 12, August 26, September 2 and September 9, before Thursday’s September 24 sale, which closes out the Q3 calendar.

More insights:

So far in September 2026, the CBN has held two Treasury Bills auctions, and the amounts sold at both add up to close to N1.92 trillion.

• At the September 2, 2026 auction, the CBN sold N865.71 billion against a N700 billion offer, cutting the 364-day bill’s rate to 16.84%.
• At the September 9, 2026 auction, the CBN sold N1.054 trillion against a N750 billion offer, cutting the 364-day bill’s rate further to 16.62%.
• Added together, that’s N1.9197 trillion sold across two auctions so far this month, before Thursday’s N500 billion sale is even counted.

If the September 23 auction sells anywhere close to the amount on offer, total money raised through Treasury Bills in September alone could reach or pass N2.4 trillion, capping off the Q3 2026 programme.

What you should know:

Yields on Nigeria’s Treasury Bills have been coming down steadily in recent weeks, and this final Q3 auction comes as the CBN’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is due to meet on September 21–22, 2026, for its 307th meeting.

• The one-year (364-day) Treasury Bill rate has now been cut three times in a row: from 17.59% at the August 12 auction, to 17.15% on August 26, to 16.84% on September 2, and finally to 16.62% on September 9 — a total drop of nearly one percentage point in about a month.
• Interest rates have been coming down even though demand for these bills has stayed very strong, with the 364-day bill alone drawing bids several times bigger than what was on offer at almost every recent auction — a sign that the CBN is choosing to let rates fall rather than keep them high just to match demand.
• This easing in Treasury Bill rates is happening even though the CBN has left its main interest rate — the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) — unchanged at 26.5% since July 2026.
• In other words, the CBN has been quietly lowering short-term government borrowing costs on its own, without yet touching the headline rate that affects bank lending more broadly.
• Nigeria’s inflation has also been slowing down for three months in a row, easing to 15.39% in August 2026 from 15.43% in July, giving the CBN more room to consider cutting rates if it chooses to.

Most analysts still expect the MPC to leave the 26.5% rate unchanged at this week’s meeting, pointing to a recent rebound in global oil prices — with Brent crude trading above $100 a barrel — plus concerns about political spending pressures ahead of Nigeria’s election cycle as reasons for the CBN to stay cautious a little longer, even as it continues to ease Treasury Bill rates gradually behind the scenes.