The Nation Newspaper

Tag: ranking

  • Nigeria’s ranking on ease of doing business, others rise

    Nigeria’s ranking on ease of doing business, others rise

    The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment,  Mr. Olusegun Aganga said Nigeria has measured 2.81 out of the overall logistic performance index (LPI),  with one out of five being the worst performance and ranking 75 out of 160 countries.

    This, according to him, makes Nigeria one of the top 10 lower middle income LPI performance in terms of its efficiency of customs clearance process, quality of trade and transport related infrastructure,  ease of arranging competitively priced shipment, quality of logistic services, ability to track and trace consignments,  and frequency with which shipments reach the consignee within the scheduled time.

    Represented by the Ambassador of Trade, Geneva,  David Adejwon, Aganga spoke at National Workshop on Implementating the World Trade Organisation (WTO) trade facilitation agreement in Abuja. He said the trade facilitation needs assessment held in 2008, 2013 and this year in Abuja provided detailed information on technical assistance requirements and a valuable basis for the eventual implementation of the result on the WTO negotiations.

    He said: “We cannot overemphasise the need for Nigeria to take issues bordering her seriously if we are to realise our dream of becoming one of the top 20 economies by 2020 which is barely six years away.

    “A very important step in this direction is to periodically conduct the needs assessment as we have been doing  and utilise the outcome to take advantage of the resources provided at the WTO  to develop the technical skills for favourable and profitable negotiation with Nigeria’s trading partners as well as improve the climate for doing business in Nigeria.

    “Iam aware of the discussion you have held to fine tune the country’s commitment in the TFA categories and efforts are being made by the Ministry to follow up with the Federal Executive Council (FEC), on the category. A commitment that have been concluded on, and I assure you that a positive response from government will soon be obtained.

    “In our globalised world,  no nation is self-sufficient as there is an increasing interdependence of national economies International trade is critical to the economic development of any nation as it enables the nation to expand its market and earn the much needed foreign exchange.”

    Aganga said the conclusion of the World Bank is that the phenomenon of globalisation has no doubt created new opportunities for countries to harness global markets for economic growth and development.

    The resulting expanded supply chains and global production network has put a new premium on moving goods in a predictable,  timely,  and cost effective way,  which has led to the need for trade facilitation activities at our air, land and border post.

  • SEPTEMBER ITTF RANKING: Quadri jumps from 111 to 73

    SEPTEMBER ITTF RANKING: Quadri jumps from 111 to 73

    From being ranked 257 in February this year, Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri became the biggest mover in September’s International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) ranking as the African champion is now rated 73rd in the world.

    In August, Quadri was listed as one of the active players by the ITTF and, as if that was not enough, the Oyo State-born player ranked 111, caused two major upsets at the last Czech Open when he defeated the world’s number 24 and 38 to make it to the last eight of the championship.

    Quadri, the first Nigerian to achieve such feat in an ITTF Pro Tour, moved from 111 to be rated 73rd in the world following the release of the September ranking by the world’s table tennis ruling body.

    For this feat, Quadri is now the second highly rated African player in the world behind Egypt’s Omar Assar, who is in the top 70. At the Czech Open, Assar failed to make it beyond the second round (round of 32) while Quadri made it to the quarterfinal of the competition where he was edged out by the eventual runner up of the tournament, Germany’s Patrick Baum.

    According to ITTF Publication Director, Ian Marshall, Frenchman Simon Gauzy, Spain’s He Zhiwen, Russia’s Kirill Skachkov and the Slovak Republic’s Wang Yang made progress in the September ranking following their Czech Republic excursion but none can match Nigeria’s Quadri.

    “Kirill Skachkov moves from no.73 to no.63 and Simon Gauzy from no.88 to no.65; whilst He Zhiwen advances from no.92 to no.79 and Wang Yang from no.108 to no.93.

    However, compared with Quadri they are minor moves; the 26-year-old Nigerian advances from a previous best of number 111 to 73, following his Men’s Singles quarter-final appearance,” Marshall said.

    For the president, Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), Wahid Oshodi, Quadri’s recent performances did not come on a platter, as he remains one of the of most disciplined and hardworking players that the country has had in recent times.

    “I am not surprised that Quadri is doing well in recent times, he has always been a very disciplined and hardworking player who just needs to be supported.

    “For us, it is a good one for the country, as the federation would continue to support the players in their quest to progress in their career. We are proud of what Quadri has done and will still do and we hope sponsors will avail themselves the opportunity to support the player in his quest to make it to the zenith of the game in the world,” Oshodi said.

  • The 2014 varsities ranking

    In 2013, Twitter posted a job ad for computer science graduates at its proposed “global centre of excellence” in Vancouver, Canada. In the ad, it had unusually specific requirements for bachelor’s degree-holders. Their bachelor’s had to come from one of the world’s top 100 universities as defined by the Times Higher Education (THE), Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), 4ICU or a similar ranking. This, goes to show how powerful university rankings have become.

    As far back as 1983, the U.S. News and World Report had begun rating U.S. institutions. Since then, dozens more ranking systems have sprung up, mainly global rankings like those by THE, QS, and the Shanghai Ranking Consultancy. These three were launched a decade ago and remain the most established and well known worldwide. They have broadened their offerings over the years while new agencies have entered the field, providing everything from regional rankings to discipline-specific ratings and reputational league tables

    However, criticism has dogged all of them to a greater or lesser extent because of the data and methodologies they employ. A central criticism is that rankings measure largely research output and reputation and don’t take into account differing institutional missions.

    Another drawback is that rankings systems cover just a small fraction of the world’s institutions, between one and three percent of universities, according to a report by the Brussels-based European University Association. The humanities, fine arts and social sciences are under-represented in the rankings because most of this research is published in books rather than the journals used as bibliometric indicators. Also excluded in some are journals published in languages other than English, because of their lower citation counts, according to the report.

    But arguments like these haven’t dampened the popularity of rankings and, many observers agree, their influence over institutional behaviour and public policy is growing which was why twitter job included that section in its job ad.

    To say that the education sector in Nigeria has been challenged for years now is to state the obvious. There are issues of funding, infrastructural decay, paucity of qualified lecturers, ratio of lecturers to students, cultism, unpredictable academic calendar etc. Maintaining high standards in the midst of these challenges is even more problematic when combined with frequent strikes by various unions in the public university system.

    However, some varsities – despite these challenges – are making modest inroads and are being recognized for their efforts. In the 2014 University Web Ranking conducted by International Colleges and Universities (4ICU) released last Tuesday, University of Ilorin (Unilorin) was adjudged the best university in Nigeria, the 20th best university in Africa and 1842nd in the world.

    The 4ICU is an international higher education search engine and directory that constantly reviews accredited universities and colleges across the world. For the latest exercise, it ranked about 11,307 colleges and universities by web popularity in over 200 countries.

    The ranking, according to 4ICU, is based upon “an algorithm including three unbiased and independent web metrics extracted from three different search engines: Google Page Rank, Yahoo Inbound Links and Alexa Traffic Rank.”

    It said web metrics data are collected on the same day to minimize temporal fluctuations and maximize comparability. A pre-computational filter is adopted to detect outliers in the raw data. The total number of external inbound links (or backlinks) pointing to each university website is also cleaned from duplicate domains based on a statistical sample; unique inbound links (i.e. links coming from different domains) are in fact a much more significant and powerful measure of website link popularity. Finally further investigation and a review of Alexa Traffic Rank data are carried out for universities adopting a subdomain as their official institutional home page.

    The latest ranking is a significant leap for the Unilorin which has moved from its last year’s fifth position in Nigeria and 56th in Africa to first and 20th positions respectively. With the new ranking, the institution’s status as the nation’s number one university has been given an international confirmation. This, to me is modest progress.

    Statistics released recently by the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) after the last Universities Matriculations Examination (UME) seem to tally with this as it showed that the university was the most subscribed university by admission seekers in the country for the 2014/2015 academic session. The University of Benin, Benin City, came second.

    Since 2011, Unilorin has maintained a steady rise among most preferred institutions by admission seekers in the country. In 2011, it ranked eighth; it ranked fifth in 2012; second in 2013 and first this year.

    The University of Lagos came second in Nigeria and 21st in Africa while the third position goes to Obafemi Awolowo University, which also comes 26th in Africa. Also on the ranking table are: the University of Ibadan came fourth in Nigeria and 38th in Africa; the Landmark University, Omu-Aran, Kwara State, fifth in Nigeria and 59th in Africa;

    Criticism aside, we need more of such rankings to keep our institutions on their toes despite the daunting challenges the Nigerian situation often throws up. We are in the knowledge era and as citadels of learning, our ivory towers should take the lead.

     

    Re: From Liberia with love

     

    Your article “From Liberia with love” in The Nation’s edition of Thursday July 31, 2014 is an interesting piece, particularly the place where you stated inter alia: “in the midst of all this it appears our intelligentsias have gone to sleep, gone are the days when our ivory towers used to be a beehive of heightened intellectual activities. Gone are the days when economists, sociologists, historians and political scientists gather to take inter disciplinary approaches to solving complex national problems that government often find very useful.”

    Do I need to state that that signposts the level of frustration in the Nigerian society up to our citadel of learning. But I may ask: which intelligentsias are you talking about? This question becomes imperative when we recall that university teachers (ASUU) only resumed classes a few months back, while their polytechnic counterpart (ASUP) resumed a few weeks back. Did these prolonged strikes send a message?

    I dare say it is all signs of frustration cutting across all strata of the citizenry; and how much thinking would striking teachers engage in in order to arrest a bad situation? You did mention economists, sociologist, etc. Which of them would you ascribe that deep thinking to? The economist whose daily living revolves around government patronage, or the historian that deliberately twists facts in order not to offend his political godfathers and other associates?

    Let’s also turn to the almighty politician. Is it the politician in the ruling party or the opposition? The politician in the ruling party has surrendered his thinking cap to the party leadership thus he cannot think anymore. The opposition, on its part, is not taken seriously by both the government and the citizens’. His actions are always taken with a pinch of salt no matter how constructive they are. The government, on its part, is self-centered as only its ideas and proposals are deemed “correct.” no matter how distraught the citizenry may feel about such ideas and proposals.

    This quagmire is compounded by the poverty prevalent in the society which has made the average citizen dumb and out of tune with current reality and, indeed, subdued. The truth is that the average Nigerian is subdued; it doesn’t matter the level he finds himself- educated or not, employed or not, graduate or under-graduate etc. In conclusion, I’ll say without fear if contradiction that Nigeria needs a revolution.

    That again is another kernel. Where does this revolution start from? Is it from the north, south, east or west? That is the dilemma we find ourselves in.

     

    • Charlie Nwachukwu, Warri (08077820966)

  • Webometric ranking: UNILORIN ‘best in Nigeria’

    Webometric ranking: UNILORIN ‘best in Nigeria’

    The 2014 University Webomeric Ranking of Universities has adjudged University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) as the best in Nigeria.

    The ranking, conducted by International Colleges and Universities (4ICU) and released on July 29, rated the university as the 20th best in Africa and 1842nd in the world.

    The 4ICU is an international higher education search engine and directory that constantly reviews accredited universities and colleges across the world.

    In the latest exercise, it ranked about 11,307 colleges and universities by web’s popularity in over 200 countries.

    In this year’s ranking, the University of Lagos came second in Nigeria and 21st in Africa while the third position goes to Obafemi Awolowo University, which is also 26th in Africa.

    Also on the ranking table are: the University of Ibadan, 4th in the country and 38th in Africa; the Landmark University, Omu-Aran, Kwara State, 5th nationally and 59th in Africa; Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, 6th in Nigeria and 63rd in Africa; the Federal University, Minna, 7th in the country and 71st in Africa.

    The University of Benin, 8th in the country and 82nd in Africa; the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, 9th in Nigeria and 87th in Africa; and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, 10th in Nigeria and 89th in Africa.

    The UNILORIN’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. AbdulGaniyu Ambali, described the rating as a product of hard work and dedication to service by every member of the university community.

  • Google beats Apple in global brand ranking

    Google beats Apple in global brand ranking

    The stories of many brands were different last year. Some fared well; others did not. In the 2014 ranking of businesses, the Brandz 100 “Most Valuable Global Brand” noted the strengths and weaknesses of firms. Some that made the ranking last year fell by the way side; others made a come back. There were also new entrants. MTN staged a return as the only African brand, reports ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI.

    • MTN is Africa’s best

    For top brand managers, the acid test is to remain on top of the competition.

    This will enable them to sustain their market share and optimise value in a market where consumers are unpredictable.

    In the 2014 ranking of businesses, the BrandZ 100 “Most Valuable Global Brand”, made available to The Nation by an agency, Millward Brown Nigeria, the combined brand value of top 100 brands went up by 12 per cent. Google overtook Apple to become the world’s most valuable global brand. It is worth $159 billion, representing an increase of 40 per cent year-on-year.

    The report said some African brands fell from the ranking, with MTN remaining as the only brand from the continent. The ranking, which was commissioned by WPP, and conducted by Millward Brown Optimor, used the views of potential and current buyers of a brand, alongside financial data, to calculate brand value.

    In the analysis, Apple slipped to number two on the back of a 20 per cent decline in brand value, to $148 billion. Despite remaining a top brand, there is a growing perception that Apple is no longer redefining technology for consumers because of lack of dramatic new product launches. Also, the world’s leading B2B (Business to Business) brand, IBM, held onto its No 3 position in last year’s ranking with a brand value of $108 billion.

    The Managing Director of Millward Brown Optimor, Mr. Nick Cooper, said:  “Google has been hugely innovative in the last one year with Google Glass, investments in artificial intelligence and a multitude of partnerships that saw its Android operating system becoming embedded in other goods, such as cars. All of this activity sends a very strong signal to consumers about what Google is about and it has coincided with a slowdown at Apple.”

    The analysis showed that the combined value of the Top 100 brands has nearly doubled since the first ranking was produced in 2006. “The Top 100 today are worth $2.9 trillion, an increase of 49 per cent compared with the 2008 valuation, which marked the start of the banking and currency crisis,” the report said.

    According to the report, successful brands have continued to retain their market share ahead of others because of the value of their share of life – they have become part of people’s daily life, than a mere  tool for business and social interaction.

    Those brands include Google which is the number one in the latest ranking, followed by Facebook, Twitter, Tencent and LinkedIn.

    “They have become part of our lives, they offer new forms of communication that absorb people’s attention and imagination, while also helping them organise the rest of their lives at the same time. To gain more of our mind-space, brands, such as Tencent and Google are even crossing categories.

    “This trend also pushed No 1 Apparel brand, Nike, a prime example of a brand seeking to become a share of life brand which offers services such as Nike+ that extend well beyond its functional raison d’etre,” the report stated.

    Many brands missed the ranking because of their craze for profit, others which main consideration was not profit made the top 100.

    “Brands in business for reasons beyond the bottom line have a better chance of success in today’s world,” the report said. For example, Pampers, which promotes mother and baby health issues, is at No 39 and grew its value by 10 per cent to $22.6 billion.

    MTN is another of such example. The telecoms operator has continued to find huge success on the back of its “everywhere you go” payoff line, making Africa proud, with a brand value of $10.2 billion.

    In the apparel category, the top 10 brands grew in value by 29 per cent to nearly $100 billion this year, outpacing cars (up 17 per cent) and retail (up 16 per cent). With brands such as Uniqlo, Nike and Adidas, recording double-digit increases in their valuation.

    The technology brands continued to record impressive growth across the world, making headlines as the biggest riser. “Not only are the top four brands technology companies, but so too are many of this year’s biggest risers. This year’s fastest climber was leading Chinese internet brand Tencent, up 97 per cent to $54 billion at No 14 position, followed by Facebook which rose 68 per cent to $36 billion and is at No 21. New brands in the Top 100 include Twitter at No 71, with a brand value of $14 billion and LinkedIn at No 78, with $12 billion. Collectively, Technology companies make up 29 per cent of the value of the BrandZ Top 100 ranking.

    The number of brands from fast growing economies slipped this year. China, with 11 brands, continues to have the largest representation; two Russian brands, Sberbank and MTS, remain in the ranking, and MTN is Africa’s representative for the third consecutive year.  “As a result of emerging markets currency decline, MTN remains the only African representative in the Top 100”, says the Regional Managing Director, Millward Brown Africa & Middle East, Mr. Charles Foster,

    According to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of The Store, WPP, Mr. David Roth, this year’s index highlights strong recovery of the brands after the 2008 recession; prompting a real growth across all categories. “This year’s index highlights the end of the recession, with a strong recovery in valuations and, for the first time, real growth across every category and the Top 100 as a whole. What’s remarkable is the way that strong brands have led the recovery. Seventy-one of the brands listed in our 2014 Top 100 were there in 2008. Despite the financial turmoil and the digital disruption that have decimated many businesses during the last few years, these brands have remained in the ranking, proving the durability of strong brands.”

  • Nadal downs Wawrinka to seal number one ranking

    Rafael Nadal guaranteed he will finish 2013 on top of the world rankings with a 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (8/6) victory over Stanislas Wawrinka at the ATP World Tour Finals on Wednesday.

    Nadal arrived for the prestigious season-ending event knowing two Group A victories at London’s O2 Arena would be enough to ensure he couldn’t be caught by second-placed Novak Djokovic in the race for the number one ranking.

    The Spaniard achieved that aim in typically dominant fashion, beating Swiss seventh seed Wawrinka 24 hours after opening the tournament with a straight-sets win over David Ferrer.

    It is the third time Nadal has finished a calendar year in pole position in the rankings — and the first since 2010 — and he celebrated with a jubilant jig around the court. He is the first player to end a year at number one three years after his last season-ending top spot.

    The 27-year-old’s straight-sets victory over Wawrinka also booked his place in the semi-finals of the Tour Finals, with one group match against Tomas Berdych still to come.

    Nadal’s return to the top is a remarkable achievement given he only came back in February after seven months out with severe knee tendonitis that threatened to cut short his career.

    “I had a lot of emotions today, it’s the perfect scenario to be the year-end number one,” Nadal said.

    “After missing this tournament last year, it’s been an unbelievable comeback. Being number one at the end of the season is something really difficult as there are some unbelievable competitors out there.

    “But without my team behind me, it would be hard to think about achieving this, especially after what happened last year.

    “Stan played really great. He had chances at the end and I was a bit lucky, but I’m happy to be through to the semi-finals in the last tournament of the year.”

    Since his return from injury, Nadal has won the French and US Open titles, as well as eight other tournaments, and a maiden triumph at the Tour Finals would be a fitting end to such a memorable campaign.

    Wawrinka has enjoyed the best season of his life, qualifying for the Tour Finals for the first time and winning his career-best 50th match of the year with a three-set victory over world number five Berdych on Monday.

    But Nadal had won all 11 of his previous meetings with the 28-year-old, who had never even taken a set off the Spaniard.

    Wawrinka played well for long periods here, hitting twice as many winners as Nadal, but he could never deliver the knock-out blow and 45 unforced errors proved his downfall.

    A double-fault from the Swiss in the fifth game of the first set gifted Nadal the first break of the match.

    The usually indefatigable Spaniard began to show a few signs of tiredness as the set progressed and Wawrinka broke back as Nadal served for the set.

    To his credit, Nadal refused to let his aching limbs get the better of him even when he trailed 5-4 in the tie-break. He took the set in slightly fortuitous fashion as Wawrinka stumbled while attempting a routine volley, allowing Nadal to pick him off at the net.

    Wawrinka knew he had missed a golden opportunity and he smashed his racquet in frustration before hurling it across the court.

    The world number eight’s anger surfaced again when he complained to the umpire about Toni Nadal — his opponent’s coach and uncle — talking too much from his court-side seat.

    It looked all over for Wawrinka when Nadal broke for a 3-1 lead in the second set, but the Swiss hit back with a break of his own in the seventh game.

    Another tie-break was needed to settle it and Nadal once again rose to the challenge, racing into a 3-0 lead before holding off Wawrinka to seal the win.

  • NUC disowns 2013 Nigerian varsity ranking

    NUC disowns 2013 Nigerian varsity ranking

    The National Universities Commission (NUC) has disowned some lists posted online claiming to rank the best 100 universities in Nigeria.

    In a statement made available to The Nation, the management of the agency noted that it has come up with only one ranking – in 2002 – both based on performance of universities in accreditation exercises.

    The statement reads: “The attention of the National Universities Commission (NUC) has been drawn to some purported lists, making the rounds on the internet, of the ‘Top 100’ and ‘Top 50’ universities in Nigeria, which were alleged to be the outcome of a non-existing ‘annual university rankings’ by the National University Commission (sic).

    “It has to be stated, unequivocally, that the lists did not emanate from the NUC. The Commission therefore totally dissociates itself from them.

    “The first ranking of Nigerian universities by the NUC in 2002 was based on the performance of the universities’ academic programmes in the 1999 and 2000 accreditation exercises.

    “The 2002 ranking was based on data on the following: Percentage of academic programmes of the university with full accreditation status; Compliance with carrying capacity (measure of the degree of deviation from carrying capacity); Proportion of the academic staff of the university at professorial level; Foreign content (staff); Foreign content (student); Staff with outstanding academic achievements; Research output; Student completion rate; Ph.D graduate output for the year; Stability of university calendar; and Student-to-PC ratio. The results of the above were duly published by the Commission and the same will be done for future exercises.”

    However, the agency noted that it is currently conducting institutional accreditation on the basis of which a form of ranking would emerge at a proper time.

    It said: “In May, 2006, NUC considered introducing institutional accreditation to complement programme accreditation. Institutional accreditation is a process of evaluating the activities of an institution against the criteria established by an accrediting agency. These include governance and administration, financial stability, admissions, personnel services, institutional resources, student academic achievement, institutional effectiveness, and relationships with constituencies inside and outside the institution.

    “Following wide consultations, the instruments for this exercise were designed and pilot-tested in six universities (Three federal, one state and two private) in 2010. The instruments were fine-tuned, based on the findings of the pilot exercise and NUC was ready for the full-blown institutional accreditation, which took off on 27 November, 2011. A total of 26 universities, selected, based on the fact that at least 70 per cent of all their programmeshad full accreditation, were involved in the exercise.

    “The above is the build-up to the next ranking exercise by the NUC, which outcome will be made public, appropriately.”

     

  • ‘Nigeria among largest unbanked population’

    ‘Nigeria among largest unbanked population’

    Nigeria has one of the largest numbers of people that have no access to traditional financial services in West Africa, according to a survey conducted by Sap Community Network and Standard Bank of South Africa (SBSA).

    In a report entitled: Accessibility to financial services in Sub-Sahara Africa, the firms said more than 80 per cent of people in the region do not have access to traditional financial services. The report said Nigeria has the largest percentage of people that have little or no access to financial services in the region.

    The report said: “In sub-Sahara Africa, more than 80 per cent of people have no access to traditional financial services. This has been one of the great challenges in fighting poverty in South Africa. Given the lack of developed infrastructure in many parts of Africa, how is it possible to provide millions of unbanked people with basic banking services?”

    They said people’s inability to provide proof of evidence is one of the biggest impediments to opening a new account.

    According to them, the introduction of mobile telephony services would increase accessibility to financial services or products in the region in future.

    “Standard Bank has been opening up to 7,000 new accounts each day through its mobile outreach programme. These new accounts are benefiting the people, the bank, and the economy. Bank customers are now able to use their phones to transfer funds, pay electric bills, and buy more air time. They also have access to credit that they have never been able to access before,” the report added.

     

     

     

    Standard Bank is not alone in bringing banking to the unbanked. Dutch-Bangla Bank is providing mobile banking much in the same way as Standard Bank of South Africa.

    Only 13% of Bangladesh’s 160 million people have a bank account. Many Bangladeshi citizens work in urban areas and send money home. The problem is to send the cash back home securely. With Dutch-Bangla Bank’s mobile solution, the ability to transfer funds eliminates the security issue.

     

  • Club World Ranking Sunshine Stars are Nigeria’s best

    Club World Ranking Sunshine Stars are Nigeria’s best

    • 13th in Africa, 244th in the World
    • Heartland rated second

     

    Sunshine Stars of Akure have been rated the best club in Nigeria, according to an International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) report released yesterday.

    The IFFHS’s latest Club World Rankings is based on results between March 1 2012 and February 28 2013.

    The Akure Gunners emerged the 13th best club in Africa, behind Al-Hilal Omdurman of Sudan who were adjudged the best club in Africa, and the 244th in the world among the top 400 clubs rated by the body.

    The rankings are calculated based on results from national league matches, continental and intercontinental competitions and the most important national cup competitions played within the stipulated time.

    The ‘Mimiko Boys’ represented Nigeria in the last CAF Champions League and were knocked out by Al Ahly of Egypt in the semi-final on a 4-3 aggregate win. They also finished the 2011/2012 league season in fifth position with 52 points from 36 matches.

    Another Nigerian club who also made the list are Heartland Football Club of Owerri. Heartland emerged second best club in Nigeria, 24th in Africa and 371st in the world.

    The top 20 sides in the Africa

    1. 74. Al-Hilal Omdurman /Sudan 142,5

    2. 76. Espérance Sportive de Tunis /Tunisie 141,0

    3. 93 Al-Merreikh Omdurman /Sudan 127,5

    4. 114 Djoliba AC Bamako /Mali 116,0

    5. 128 Al-Ahly Cairo /Egypt 108,5

    6. 141. AC Léopard Dolisie / Congo 104,0

    7 147. Wydad AC Casablanca / Maroc 101,0

    8 150. Chelsea FC Berekum / Ghana 100,0

    9 166. Dynamos FC Harare / Zimbabwe 96,0

    10 195. Grupo Desportivo Interclube /Angola

    11 213 Stade Malien de Bamako /Mali 86,0

    12 217. AFA Djekanou / Côte-d‘Ivoire 85,5

    13 244. Sunshine Stars FC Akure Nigeria 81,5

    14 256 Power Dynamos FC Kitwe /Zambia 79,5

    15 267 Grupo Desportivo e Recreativo do /Angola 78,0

    16 313. ASO Chlef/Algérie 72,5

    17 314 Éntente Sportife de Sétif /Algérie 72,0

    18 314 Séwé Sports de San Pedro /Côte-d’Ivoire 72,0

    19 314 Étoile Sportive du Sahel /Tunisie 2 72,0

    20. 335 ASEC Mimosas Abidjan /Côte-d’Ivoire 70,5

    21 346 Club Africain Tunis /Tunisie 69,5

    22 348 Zamalek SC Cairo /Egypt 69,0

    23 351. RAJA Casablanca /Maroco 68,5

    24 371. Heartland FC Owerri /Nigeria 66,5

    25 380 Al-Ahli Shandi /Sudan 65,0

     

  • ‘Eagles ‘ll make FIFA ranking irrelevant’

    ‘Eagles ‘ll make FIFA ranking irrelevant’

    Former Super Eagles coach Christian Chukwu has stated that the latest FIFA Rankings which sees Nigeria ranked 54th will count for nothing at the 2013 Nations Cup.

    Nigeria rose five places in the latest ranking but are adjudged as the tenth best team in Africa but Chukwu, who guided Nigeria to third place in the 2004 Nations Cup, said the Super Eagles will make the FIFA rankings insignificant at the 16-team event with optimism that Nigeria will make at least, the last four of the competition holding in South Africa.

    “The FIFA ranking will not in anyway affect the team because they are ready for the tournament. There should be no worry for Nigerians because I’m sure that by the time the Nations Cup ends, the ranking will be made irrelevant.”

    Nigeria were once ranked as the fifth best team in the world, the highest ever by an African country, but have been ranked low in recent times largely because of the team’s failure to qualify for the last edition of the Nations Cup.

    Stephen Keshi’s team will get their campaign underway with Burkina Faso on January 21 and will also play defending champions Zambia and long-term absentees Ethiopia in their other group matches.