By Obafemi Oredein

Special to Dow Jones Newswires


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

Governorship elections will be held in 28 of the country's 36 states--governorship polls are held off season in eight states--while state house of assembly members are to be elected in all 36 states, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission.

Commercial banks and other financial institutions, cocoa grading and trading centers, petrol stations, supermarkets and goods markets will be closed for the elections, said a cocoa trader.

He said cocoa transportation to grading centers and warehouses of exporters and to the ports will also be suspended for the elections adding that police have restricted the movement of public and private vehicles until the end of polling at 18:00 GMT.

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

The presidential and national assembly elections were held in Nigeria on Feb. 25.


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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-17-23 1248ET