The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced the full implementation of its Scripless Securities Settlement System (S4). As the exclusive platform for conducting primary market auctions of government securities.
This confirmation, provided in response to an inquiry by Nairametrics, establishes S4 as the sole system for bid submission, price discovery, and allocation in Nigeria’s sovereign debt market.
The announcement follows the February 2026 Treasury Bills auction. Where the Federal Government offered N150 billion in 91-day bills, N200 billion in 182-day bills and N800 billion in 364-day bills. The auction conducted entirely through a centralized electronic process.
Market participants have described this development as a significant structural shift in Nigeria’s primary debt market. By removing physical submissions and decentralizing aggregation channels. The CBN has centralized all primary market activities into a single electronic platform. This change has redefined how banks, investors, and regulators interact during the auction process.
What the CBN is Saying
In its latest auction notice and operational guidelines for the February 4 NTB auction. The CBN mandated the use of S4 as the sole clearing platform for all primary market transactions. Involving Treasury Bills and other government securities.
The CBN clarified that only authorized banks can submit bids on behalf of investors. With all submissions processed directly through the S4 system.
“S4 is now the only tool by the CBN for government securities auctions in the primary market. It is fully operational,” said Mr. Auwalu from the CBN’s Corporate Communications Department.
“However, only banks can submit bids for their customers. Investors must place their bids through their banks,” Auwalu added in a statement on Monday.
Mr. Zeal Akariwe, CEO of Graeme Blaque Advisory. Which provides advisory services to the CBN, explained: “The CBN has always used S4 for primary market auctions. The focus now is on deploying it for the secondary market. Nothing significant has changed.”
This clarification has put to rest speculation about whether the February directive was a temporary measure or the final step in fully enforcing the S4 infrastructure.
