The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan will arrive Nigeria on Friday, 10 May, 2024 for a 3-day private visit.
The couple is visiting Nigeria on the invitation of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa to interact with wounded soldiers. Director Sports, Defence Headquarters (DHQ), Air Vice Marshal Abidemi Marquis who disclosed this on Thursday said the founder of Invictus games will spend three days in Nigeria, interacting with wounded soldiers and their families.
Marquis said the visit scheduled from 10th to 13th May 2024 will help the wounded soldiers in their recovery efforts. “We realised that 80% of our soldiers have been involved in this recovery programme, they are getting better. Their outlook to life is positive,” AVM Marquis said.
He added that the visit will aid their recovery “to improve their personal self-esteem to improve their mental health. Their emotional intelligence has been improved and also their families seeing them, as they used to be breadwinners who is capable of continue living. So this engagement with Invictus is giving us the opportunity for the recovery for our soldiers.”
He further stated that being a member of the Invictus community, the visit will lay credence to the acceptance of the Nigerian Armed Forces. He further stressed that the visit has become essential to Nigeria’s plan to hosting an Invictus game. AVM Marquis also stressed on 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 of the states. “So, to be specific, now, they will be arriving here tomorrow (Friday) 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 after resting at the hotel, the couple will return to visit Chief of Defence Staff by 12 noon on Friday. The Director added that Prince Harry and wife would visit their own the Wuse Light Academy, an institution being supported by their non-governmental organization before seeing the Nigeria’s security chief.
Subsequently, they will proceed to Kaduna State to visit the Nigerian Army Reference Hospital where the wounded and injured soldiers are kept for their medical recovery. “On Saturday, we’ll be having like an exhibition of novelty match. 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 programme for them by 01:00 pm. 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 Director said.
On Sunday, AVM Marquis said the couple will pay a courtesy visit on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, and also visit a basketball court for the school their NGO is supporting in Lagos where a basketball exhibition Match will be held. A reception is also expected to be organised for the couple on Sunday before returning to Abuja in preparation for their departure from the country on Monday.
