Nigeria is in transition mode with coaches being changed like hats, while they met a resurgent Egypt in their group to qualify for the AFCoN (with only one team that could qualify). Nigeria can be a force to be reckoned with by the next World Cup with possibly a couple of world class players and Iheanacho leading the lines. This draw has come a bit to early for them - they need to integrate superbly talented youth + instill a new tactical outlook while qualifying from a group of death. Cameroon doesn't suck. By no means. They have had definite off-field and on-field issues in the past two World Cups, but by purely looking at the squad, you can see there is some definite quality: Matip (Liverpool), Aboubakar (Porto), Bedimo (Marseille), Choupo-Moting (Schalke). Not confirmed but N'koudou, now of Tottenham, has apparently agreed to play for Cameroon. They have some quality in the side, but obviously this isn't their best period in history. Hard to say which Cameroon will turn up in qualifying, but I agree it may not be as bad as some people have suggested.
You can't omit Senegal. Playerwise this is the strongest and deepest team in Africa. Haven't quite lived up to potential, but if they qualify for 2018 they could have a deep run. First the big names: Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli), Idrissa Gueye (Aston Villa, as a DM second only to Kante in terms of stats europewide), Cheikhou Kouyate (West Ham), Sadio Mane (Liverpool), Keita Balde Diao (Lazio). But there is quality in depth that no other African side has at the moment with eg. Lamine Sane, Salif Sane, Papy Djilobodji, Boukary Drame, Diafra Sakho, Oumar Niasse, Moussa Konate, Mohamed Diame, Pape Souare. Just in 2014/2015 Senegalese players scored the second most goals of all foreigners in the EPL (after Spain I believe). Morocco isn't that strong. Or alternately: They haven't proven themselves to be strong so far. No one seems to mention Mali, who have consistently performed at continental level, have one of the best groups of youth on the continent, have megatalent in Adama Traore (Monaco) and unless he backs down from his public statement will have Ousmane Dembele (now of Borussia Dortmund). We'll know soon enough as to how this might shape up: 3 October Algeria vs Cameroon 3 October Cote d'Ivoire vs Mali 7 November Nigeriav vs Algeria 7 November Morocco vs Cote d'Ivoire 7 Novmeber Egypt vs Ghana
True, that is Fifa's rule, and yet Fifa didn't follow it. Instead they created a brand new "special" ranking (Fifa's own words), which was unpublished as it wasn't an official ranking, purely for the CAF qualifying draw. The new ranking saw Tunisia go into Pot A and Egypt drop to Pot B. Had they used the most recent (at the time) published ranking, Egypt would have been a top seed. http://www.weglobalfootball.com/2016/06/22/fifas-world-cup-draw-foul-play/
Yeah I forgot about Senegal's players actually. They do have some great players. Also about Mali don't forget Roma's Keita.