President Muhammadu Buhari pledged on Thursday in Abuja that he and other members of the African Union High-Level Consultative Committee on South Sudan will do their best to ensure the peace agreement signed by various political factions in the country is successfully implemented.

Speaking at an audience with South Sudan’s First Vice President, Dr Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon, President Buhari assured him that Nigeria and the Committee will work with all stakeholders to overcome problems hindering the implementation of the seven-month old agreement.

“The situation must not deteriorate”, the President told the First Vice President who is a signatory to the peace agreement.

Expressing concern that compliance with the agreed ceasefire in South Sudan has not been total, President Buhari said that Nigeria will work in collaboration with other African Union members to achieve a speedy stabilisation of the situation.

The President advised leaders of South Sudan not to allow ethnicity and corruption to gain a foothold in the new country.

“Ethnicity and corruption are a lethal combination. You have to deal with them otherwise instability will continue,” President Buhari warned after receiving a briefing from Dr. Riek Machar on the current state of affairs in South Sudan.

Also Thursday in Abuja, President Buhari received a Special envoy of the African Union Chairman, President Idris Deby-Itno.

The Special envoy, Mr Abubakar Saleh Chahaimi, delivered a message from President Deby on strengthening of bilateral relations between Nigeria and Chad, as well as the work of the African Union Consultative Committee on South Sudan.