The Central Bank of Nigeria has announced a N2 trillion Open Market Operations bill auction for Thursday, 22 October 2026, as the banking system continues to hold elevated liquidity following substantial securities repayments.
According to the auction notice, the offer is split equally between two instruments:
- A 138-day OMO bill with an offer size of N1 trillion, maturing on 9 March 2027. - A 180-day OMO bill with an offer size of N1 trillion, maturing on 20 April 2027.
Bidding is scheduled to run from 1:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
The N2 trillion offer amounts to approximately 96.8 per cent of the N2.067 trillion in OMO maturities that the Financial Markets Dealers Association projected for the week beginning 19 October, a difference of about N67 billion. The proximity of the two figures suggests the auction could absorb a significant portion of the liquidity returning to the financial system through maturing securities, although the notice does not confirm that the CBN intends to replace those maturities on a one-for-one basis.
The auction comes after banks' net placements at the CBN's Standing Deposit Facility climbed above N6 trillion early in October. FMDA data cited by Nairametrics showed banking system liquidity rose 69.39 per cent to N6.283 trillion in the week ended 16 October, up from N3.709 trillion the previous week. An OMO repayment of about N2.41 trillion on 13 October contributed to that expansion, and no fresh OMO sales were recorded during the review week.
Previous auctions have shown that final allotments can far exceed announced offers. At the 6 October auction, the CBN allotted approximately N3.31 trillion against an initial N2 trillion offer and N3.51 trillion in subscriptions, roughly 1.65 times the announced amount. The 182-day bill accounted for about 80.7 per cent of that allotment, indicating stronger demand for the longer instrument. Stop rates settled at 17.22 per cent for the 147-day bill and 16.92 per cent for the 182-day bill, both below the rates recorded at the 29 September auction.
In September, the CBN sold about N17.51 trillion in OMO bills against N10.89 trillion in maturities, representing a net liquidity withdrawal of roughly N6.62 trillion. OMO subscriptions reached about N20.6 trillion, the highest reported for 2026.
