The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and the wife, Meghan, will on Friday, May 10, 2024 arrive Nigeria for a 3-day private visit, on the invitation of the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa to interact with wounded soldiers.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja on Thursday ahead of the visit, the Director of Sports, Defence Headquarters, Air Vice Marshal Abidemi Marquis , said the founder of Invictus games will spend three days in Nigeria to interact with wounded soldiers and their family members.
He said the visit scheduled from 10th to 13th May 2024 will help the wounded soldiers in their recovery efforts.
“Because we realised that 80% of our soldiers have been involved in this recovery programme, they are getting better, their outlook to life is positive. When you are engaged in, you experience a permanent disability, issues that affect your mental health and also your outlook to life.
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“But the recovery programme 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 see them, as they used to be a breadwinner who is capable of, continue living. So this engagement with Invictus is giving us the opportunity for a recovery for our soldiers”.
According to the senior military officer, Nigeria, being a member of the invictus community, the visit will lay credence to the fact that the Nigerian Armed Forces are accepted, adding 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 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, 01:00pm.. 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”.
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