The Federal Government of Nigeria plans to significantly increase domestic borrowing, aiming to raise N900 billion from its January 2026 bond auction, double the N450 billion targeted in January 2025. The move reflects mounting fiscal pressures and refinancing needs.
According to documents released by the Debt Management Office (DMO), the January 2026 auction will feature three reopened Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) bonds with a combined size of N900 billion, marking a 100 per cent year-on-year increase in the January offering.
In contrast, the January 2025 auction adopted a more restrained posture, offering three bonds across the five-year, seven-year, and ten-year segments. The government then sought to raise:
N100bn from a five-year bond maturing in April 2029 with a 19.30% coupon,
N150bn from a seven-year February 2031 bond at 18.50%,
N200bn from a new ten-year January 2035 bond.
The N450bn offer in 2025 reflected comparatively lower funding needs despite elevated interest rates.
For January 2026, the government plans to raise:
N300bn from a reopening of the 18.50% FGN February 2031 bond,
N400bn from a reopening of the 19.00% FGN February 2034 bond,
N200bn from a reopening of the 22.60% FGN January 2035 bond.
The composition of the 2026 offer signals a strategic shift, with ten-year instruments accounting for N600bn—about two-thirds of the total auction—compared with N200bn in ten-year paper offered in January 2025. The 22.60% coupon on the January 2035 bond represents a notable increase over comparable tenors a year ago, reflecting the higher cost of borrowing faced by the government.
The enlarged domestic debt programme underscores Nigeria’s growing reliance on the local capital market to meet budgetary and refinancing needs, amid rising interest rates and fiscal pressures.
