The Super Eagles of Nigeria have progressed to number 28 in the current May world ranking of male national football teams released by FIFA on Thursday.
The current African champions leapfrogged four steps - from 31st position in the April ranking to 28th in the latest classification.
Stephen Keshi's team, by implication of their current world standing, has retained their fourth best team status in Africa this month.
The top five African teams classification remains unchanged as Cote d' Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria and Algeria retained their April status yet again in May.
Remarkably, the top ten teams in the world remain unchanged from the previous April ranking: Spain, Germany, Croatia, Portugal, Colombia, England, Italy, Holland and Ecuador, in that order.