"In the spirit of African brotherhood, and Nigeria, especially with her cordial relationship with South Africa, the federal government has withdrawn from the bid of the 2010 World Cup fiesta and lends its full support to South Africa," Mohammed told a news conference.

It was not clear if Nigeria's decision had yet been communicated to world soccer's governing body Fifa, who were expecting the bid to be presented along with five others in Zurich on Tuesday.

Mohammed said the oil-producing West African country was already overburdened by other commitments, including the hosting of the All Africa Games from October 4 to 18.

Fifa have guaranteed that Africa will host soccer's showpiece event for the first time in 2010 as part of a new policy of rotation of the tournament between the continents.

South Africa, Nigeria, Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia and Libya had all announced bids.

Nigeria had originally hoped to bid jointly with West African neighbours Benin, Ghana and Togo, but Fifa rejected that move.

Despite being sub-Saharan Africa's biggest economy after South Africa, Nigeria has some of the poorest infrastructure on the continent and not even many of its own citizens gave its bid much of a chance.