By Obafemi Oredein

Special to Dow Jones Newswires


IBADAN, Nigeria--Cocoa trading will be suspended in Nigeria on Saturday while presidential and national assembly elections are held nationwide, traders and exporters said Friday.

A new president is being elected as the eight-year term of incumbent president Muhammadu Buhari ends on May 29, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission, or INEC.

Commercial banks, cocoa grading centers and gas stations would be closed, a cocoa trader said. "The transportation of cocoa to grading centers or the warehouses of exporters and to the ports will be suspended for the elections," he said.

Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of INEC, said 93.4 million voters have been registered to participate in the elections.

Cocoa activities will resume on Monday.


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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

02-24-23 0729ET