Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, signed on behalf of Nigeria while his counterpart from South Sudan, Nhial Deng Nhial signed for his country in Abuja on Thursday
Onyeama said: “It is a general cooperation agreement that involves other areas but not security, the area of cooperation include economic, education, technical, health, sports, culture among others.
“The agreement signed does not involve security and defence, we do not have any boot on ground in the place.
“It is just a guideline, there will be specific agreements between the Ministries, Department and Agencies of the two countries.”
The minister, who said that Nigeria had always being committed to peace and stability of South Sudan since its inception, said Nigeria would continue to support the country till permanent peace is installed.
“We want to institutionalise our commitment and support to your country and we are signing a cooperation agreement, which we hope will be a framework that will enhance our deep relations.
“For us, we believe it will be a `win-win` for the two countries to have meaningful and profitable cooperation between us,” he said.
He said that Nigeria’s involvement and engagement in South Sudan was deep because the two countries had a lot of things in common.
“Nigeria is part of group of countries called IGAD plus showing that with your country and the countries of IGAD are keen to have peace in South Sudan.
“We share a lot of things in common and a lot of potentials and that is why we want peace and stability to reign.
“Your country is rich in resources, in petrol and other resources and also human resources, and well educated people.
“We believe we can achieve greater things economically, socially and to really push for greater engagement between our two countries,” he said.
He pledged Nigeria’s support to ensure peace and stability in the country, stressing that Nigeria would ensure the cantonment of the troops before the transition in the middle of the year.
