The local organising committee for the 2009 U-17 World Cup in Nigeria have reduced the World Cup hosting budget to 17 billion naira, an official said.

Emeka Inyama, general-manager of the LOC, said the world soccer governing body, FIFA have told them there was no need for broadcast allocation in their budget.

Inyama denied they ever requested for 37 billion naira as speculated in the media, noting that the LOC only asked for 35 billion naira rather.

"What the LOC presented was 35 million naira, not 37 million," Inyama said.

He said the budget was presented a breakdown of components for what is needed to organize a smooth and successful competition.

Inyama expatiated that the total budget is now 17 billion naira, since the FIFA team has advised that the allocation for broadcast was not necessary.

In the same vein, media officer of the committee, Emeka Odikpo explained that of the initial estimate, only 12 billion is for services of the LOC.

He said 14 billion naira is for broadcast equipment, seven billion naira for facilities upgrade and four billion for ITC, then confirmed that FIFA has told Nigeria to present three options for hosting the competition.

Odikpo said FIFA is expecting Nigeria to present the options in Zurich, with a view to ensuring that Nigeria hosts the event with an understanding between the government and FIFA to reduce the cost.