The Duke and Duchess of Sussex Prince Harry and Meghan will arrive in Nigeria today for a three-day private visit.
Prince Harry and wife Meghan are visiting Nigeria on the invitation of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Christopher Musa to interact with wounded soldiers.
The director of sports, Defence Headquarters (DHQ) Air Vice Marshal Abidemi Marquis said the founder of Invictus games will spend three days in Nigeria, interacting with wounded soldiers and their families.
He said the visit scheduled from May 10 to May 13, 2024 would help the wounded soldiers in their recovery efforts.
“ Because we realized that 80 percent of our soldiers have been involved in this recovery program, they are getting better. Their outlook on life is positive. You know, when you are engaged in, you experience a permanent disability, you know, issues, it affects your mental health and also your outlook to life. But the recovery program has given them an opportunity to improve their personal self esteem, to improve their mental health, their emotional intelligence has been improved and also their families seeing them, you know, as they used to be a breadwinner who is capable of, you know, continuing living. So this engagement with Invictus is giving us the opportunity for a recovery for our soldiers”.
Marquis said Nigeria being a member of the invictus community, the visit will lay credence to the fact that the Nigerian Armed Forces are accepted.
He added that Nigeria is also looking forward to hosting an Invictus game hence, the reason for the visit.
AVM Marquis also stressed the need to build a state-of-the art structure for the management of the wounded and injured soldiers, “ particularly the post traumatic syndrome and the post-traumatic stress syndrome that are manifesting due to our engagement in the counter insurgency operation”.
He disclosed that the couple would visit Kaduna and Lagos states where they will also interact with the governors.
„So, to be specific, now, they will be arriving here tomorrow and they will be received and the reception will be a quiet reception because they will be traveling 14 hours to get to this place. They will be taken to the hotel,” he added.
He said the couple, after resting at the hotel, would return to visit the Chief of Defence Staff by 12 noon tomorrow.
The director added that Prince Harry and wife would before that visit, „they have their own NGO they are supporting somewhere in Wuse Light Academy. They are going to visit that place.
„They will be proceeding to Kaduna to visit the Nigerian Army Reference Hospital. You know, that is where our wounded and injured soldiers are kept for their medical recovery. He will be going there.
„On Saturday, we‘ll be having something like an exhibition of novelty matches. The CDS team and the Duke team will be having a volleyball match at armed forces officers‘ mess in the morning. And this is just to engage with the wounded and injured soldiers. It‘s a sitting volleyball match coming in the morning.
„So after that we have a program for them, 01:00 p.m., a reception, where they will be interacting with families of wounded and injured soldiers and families of soldiers and officers killed in action and service members generally. The program will start by 01:00 p.m., on Saturday, thereafter, they will go back to the hotel to rest.
“So, on Sunday, we have a program in Lagos. They will pay a courtesy call to the governor of Lagos State, and they also have an NGO, they are supporting Lagos over time, and we are going there. They built a basketball court for the school in Lagos. So, they will be going there also. And there will be a basketball exhibition Match, 20 minutes, 30 minutes will be played.
From there, they proceed to the governor‘s place. After that, there is a reception also for them in Lagos. And when we finish that, we come back to Abuja, and they‘ll be leaving Nigeria on Monday morning.“