The chairman of Nigeria's 2010 World Cup bid committee said it is ready to formalise its plans for co-hosting with four other African countries.

"We now have official permission from our federal government to pursue a joint bid with Benin Republic, Togo, Ghana and Cameroon," said Segun Odegbami.

A senior soccer official in Cameroon's Football Federation (Fecafoot) had told BBC Sport Online that his country had not been approached by Nigeria over the proposed bid.

Odegbami, who won the 1980 African Nations Cup with Nigeria, admitted that no official approach had been made to Cameroon or any of the countries proposed for the 2010 bid.

"We did approach Cameroon but the talks were informal.

"Now we are ready to make the formal approach.

"I have no doubt whatsoever that by the time we finish our homework we will have an irresistible package for Fifa," he said."

Nigeria is one of Africa's soccer giants but it faces stiff competition for the 2010 tournament from other parts of the continent.

Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia and South Africa have all declared their intention to bid.

South Africa, which boasts by far the best infrastructure on the continent, narrowly lost out on hosting the 2006 World Cup finals to Germany.