The Central Bank of Nigeria, acting on behalf of the Debt Management Office, will put up ₦900 billion worth of Nigerian Treasury Bills for sale on Wednesday, October 7, 2026, with the one-year instrument taking up most of the offer.

According to the auction notice obtained by Nairametrics, the DMO will offer ₦100 billion each in the 91-day and 182-day bills, and ₦700 billion in the 364-day bills. Settlement is scheduled for Thursday, October 8.

The apex bank stated that the indicative NTB issuance calendar will be released in due course.

The quarterly programme sets out, among other details, how much the government plans to offer and how much of the old bills are expected to mature during the quarter, as well as auction and maturity dates.

The auction is the first NTB sale of the fourth quarter of 2026. It comes as the one-year stop rate stands at 15.89 per cent at previous auctions, following a sustained decline in rates and the Monetary Policy Committee’s 350-basis-point cut in the Monetary Policy Rate to 23.00 per cent.

The 364-day bill accounts for ₦700 billion, or about 77.8 per cent, of the total amount on offer at the October 7 auction. The shorter 91-day and 182-day instruments each account for ₦100 billion, representing about 11.1 per cent apiece.

The structure maintains the DMO’s recent emphasis on the longer-dated Treasury bill, which has also attracted the bulk of investor demand at recent auctions.

The total amount on offer is ₦900 billion across the three standard NTB tenors.

The 91-day bill has an offer size of ₦100 billion, while another ₦100 billion is allocated to the 182-day instrument.

The 364-day bill has an offer size of ₦700 billion, representing more than three-quarters of the total auction.

Settlement is scheduled for October 8, while the Fourth Quarter 2026 NTB issuance calendar is expected to be circulated afterwards.

The auction notice did not state the stop rates, bid limits or submission deadline, leaving the eventual pricing to emerge from the auction results.

The October auction follows strong demand for the 364-day instrument at the September 23 auction, when total subscriptions across the three tenors reached ₦4.23 trillion. The DMO eventually allotted ₦497.59 billion, with demand heavily concentrated at the long end.

The one-year stop rate has also declined steadily across recent auctions.

The 364-day bill attracted ₦4.09 trillion in subscriptions on September 23, accounting for about 97 per cent of total demand, while its stop rate fell by 73 basis points to 15.89 per cent.

The 91-day and 182-day instruments were undersubscribed at 0.55 and 0.82 times their respective offer sizes, with stop rates declining to 15.50 per cent and 15.80 per cent.

The 364-day stop rate has dropped by 146 basis points over four consecutive auctions from 16.84 per cent on September 2.

The one-year rate is also 181 basis points below its third-quarter peak of 17.70 per cent recorded on July 8.

The DMO allotted approximately ₦8.14 trillion across eight NTB auctions during the third quarter, about 40.34 per cent above the ₦5.8 trillion targeted for the period.

Liquidity conditions remain supportive of fixed-income demand heading into the October 7 auction. Investors submitted ₦12.14 trillion in bids at the final two September OMO auctions against ₦3.4 trillion offered, even as rates on the instruments declined.

Banks also had more than ₦4.6 trillion placed at the CBN’s Standing Deposit Facility as of October 2, indicating that substantial liquidity remained within the financial system.

The larger ₦900 billion NTB offer provides additional capacity to absorb investor demand, particularly for the 364-day instrument.

The auction notice does not indicate whether the DMO could allot more than the ₦700 billion offered on the one-year tenor.

The amount of Treasury bills maturing around the October 7 auction is not provided in the supplied information, so the net liquidity effect cannot yet be determined.

The auction results are expected to show whether the recent decline in stop rates continues into the fourth quarter.

Investors can access NTBs through banks and licensed investment platforms, subject to their respective minimum bid requirements. Attention at the October 7 auction will centre on demand for the ₦700 billion one-year offer and on whether its 15.89 per cent stop rate declines further.