Treasury Bills Rates in Nigeria
Last verified: 26 August 2026 CBN auction results. Nigerian Treasury Bill rates reset at every Central Bank auction, held roughly every two weeks, so treat any number you see online, including this one, as time-stamped, not permanent.
Latest Nigerian Treasury Bill rates
Tenor | Stop (marginal) rate | Change vs previous auction |
|---|---|---|
91-day | 16.30% | Unchanged |
182-day | 16.50% | Unchanged |
364-day | 17.15% | Down from 17.59% |
Source: Central Bank of Nigeria primary market auction results, 26 August 2026. If you're reading this more than a couple of weeks after 26 August 2026, check the CBN's Government Securities page or your bank/broker for the current figures before making a decision, since these numbers will very likely have moved.
What these rates actually mean
The CBN's own auction data separates a few terms that are often blurred together online, and understanding the difference matters more than the headline number itself.
- Marginal rate (the "stop rate"): the cut-off rate the CBN accepts at auction. Bids at or below this rate are filled; bids above it are rejected. This is the number most news headlines quote.
- Range of bid rates: the full spread of rates submitted, useful context, but not what you'd actually receive.
- True yield: your actual effective annualised return once you account for paying less than face value upfront. For standard discount-basis Treasury Bill pricing, the true yield is typically higher than the marginal/stop rate because it measures the return against the discounted amount actually paid rather than the full face value. CBN publishes this as a separate field, but most bank and blog pages only quote the marginal rate, which understates what you'd really earn.
When comparing T-bills with other investments that quote annualised returns, the true yield is generally the more useful comparison.
Why the 91-day, 182-day and 364-day rates differ
Longer tenors generally, though not always, carry a higher rate, because investors are locking their money away for longer and want compensation for that. At the 26 August 2026 auction, this held true: 364-day paper cleared meaningfully above the 91-day and 182-day rates. But the relationship isn't fixed. The CBN can and does adjust individual tenors independently based on how much it wants to raise on each, how oversubscribed each tenor is, and its broader liquidity-management objectives, which is part of why the 364-day rate moved between the 12 August and 26 August auctions while the shorter tenors held steady.
Illustrative return calculation (using the 26 August 2026 rate)
This uses the verified 364-day marginal rate of 17.15% as of 26 August 2026, for illustration only. It will not reflect the rate at the time you're reading this.
It's worth being precise about what each term below actually measures, since they're easy to conflate.
For every ₦100,000 of face value on a 364-day bill at a 17.15% marginal/stop rate:
- Purchase price: approximately ₦82,900. This is what you actually pay upfront, discounted from face value.
- Discount: approximately ₦17,100. This is the naira gap between what you pay and the ₦100,000 you receive at maturity.
- Holding-period return: approximately 20.6%. This is the discount expressed as a percentage of what you actually paid (₦17,100 ÷ ₦82,900), covering the full 364-day period, it is not automatically the same figure as the 17.15% stop rate, because the stop rate is calculated against face value, not against your actual outlay.
- Annualised true yield: approximately 20.7%. This adjusts the holding-period return to a full 365-day year. For a 364-day bill the adjustment is tiny (364 days is only one day short of a year), so the holding-period return and the annualised true yield are almost identical here, but they are conceptually different measures, and for shorter tenors (like 91 days) the gap between the stop rate and the annualised true yield is much larger.
In short: the 17.15% you see quoted is the marginal/stop rate, not what you actually earn on your money. What you actually earn, relative to what you actually paid, is closer to 20.6%–20.7%. This is simplified arithmetic to show the mechanic, not the exact pricing formula your bank or broker will apply, actual figures depend on the specific auction or secondary-market rate current at the time you invest, and precise day-count conventions.
Primary market rate vs secondary market rate
The rate in the table above is a primary market rate, set once per auction and open in practice mainly to licensed dealers bidding at scale. The secondary market, where already-issued bills trade day to day through banks, brokers, and platforms, moves continuously between auctions based on supply and demand. A secondary-market rate can be higher or lower than the last primary auction's stop rate depending on market conditions on the day you buy or sell.
Why your bank or platform's quoted rate can differ from the CBN rate
If your bank, broker, or investment app quotes you a different number from the table above, that's not necessarily an error. A few genuine reasons this happens:
- Timing. They may be quoting a current secondary-market price, not the last primary auction's stop rate.
- Margin/spread. Providers that aggregate smaller retail amounts to access the market often build in a spread, meaning the rate passed on to you can be somewhat below the raw auction or secondary-market rate.
- Structure. As covered in our full investing guide, not every provider gives you a T-bill in the same way, some pool funds, some buy and subdivide existing bills, and some offer a product that tracks T-bill-style returns rather than a bill itself. Different structures can carry different effective rates.
Always ask your specific provider for their current quoted rate rather than assuming it will match the CBN's headline figure exactly. If it's meaningfully far off with no clear explanation, that's worth a direct question before you invest.
How Treasury Bill rates move over time
Nigerian T-bill rates have swung considerably over the past couple of years, tracking broader monetary policy and inflation conditions, from stop rates above 20% in parts of 2024, down through a period of easing across much of the first half of 2026, a brief reversal higher on the 364-day tenor at the 12 August 2026 auction, before easing again to 17.15% at the 26 August 2026 auction. The direction can reverse from one auction to the next, so a rate you saw a few months ago, however memorable, isn't a reliable guide to what's on offer now.
Tax treatment (net-return context)
Following tax changes implemented in late 2025, a 10% withholding tax generally applies to interest earned on Treasury Bills, deducted at source by the paying institution. This affects your actual net return regardless of the headline rate quoted above, factor it in when comparing T-bills to other options, and confirm current treatment with your provider or a tax adviser. For the full explanation of how this works and what it means for your return, see our complete guide on how to invest in Treasury Bills in Nigeria.
Where to verify the current rate yourself
- The Central Bank of Nigeria's Government Securities Summary page, which publishes primary market auction data directly, including the marginal rate and true yield fields referenced above.
- Reputable Nigerian financial news outlets, which typically report auction results the same day, including the exact auction date, useful for confirming a number you've seen elsewhere is genuinely current and not recycled from an older auction.
- Your own bank or broker's treasury/investment desk, for the specific rate they're currently offering.
Be cautious of any page, including this one after enough time has passed, that states a rate without a specific, checkable auction date attached to it.