The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, sold approximately N17.51 trillion worth of Open Market Operations, OMO, bills in September 2026, while about N10.89 trillion in maturing bills was repaid during the month.
This resulted in a net liquidity withdrawal of roughly N6.62 trillion from the financial system.
Analysis of CBN auction and repayment data by Nairametrics shows that the gross sales were recorded across five OMO auctions held on September 1, 8, 16, 24 and 29.
The N17.51 trillion allotted was about 2.7 times the cumulative N6.4 trillion initially offered.
However, substantial repayments of maturing securities during the month meant that a significant portion of the liquidity absorbed through fresh OMO sales was effectively replacing funds that had earlier returned to the financial system.
Five OMO maturities valued at approximately N10.89 trillion were recorded in September, representing about 62 per cent of the N17.51 trillion in gross sales.
The CBN repaid N62 billion on September 7, followed by N3.07 trillion on September 8.
Another N3.06 trillion matured on September 15, while N2.27 trillion was repaid on September 22.
The final major maturity came on September 29, when N2.433 trillion was returned to the financial system.
Meanwhile, the CBN recorded OMO sales of N2.88 trillion, N4.40 trillion, N3.29 trillion, N2.255 trillion and N4.686 trillion across the five September auctions.
The figures indicate that much of the CBN’s OMO activity during the month involved replacing maturing securities with fresh instruments, rather than the entire N17.51 trillion representing additional liquidity withdrawal.
The scale of net liquidity absorption varied considerably throughout the month, with the largest withdrawals occurring around the first and final auctions.
In the intervening periods, fresh OMO sales were more closely matched by repayments of maturing securities.
