By Olawale Lamina
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and wife, Meghan are expected to arrive Nigeria on Friday, (today),on a 3-day private visit.
This was disclosed by the Director Sports, Defence Headquarters, DHQ, Air Vice Marshal Abidemi Marquis, on Thursday. He stated that the duo would be visiting the country on the invitation of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen Christopher Musa.
Air Vice Marshal Marquis explained that, Prince Harry, the founder of Invictus games, during the visit would spend three days interacting with wounded soldiers and their families. AVM Marquis stayed that the visit would help the wounded soldiers in their recovery.
The Director Sports Defence Headquarters said that, “We realised that 80% of our soldiers have been involved in this recovery programme, they are getting better.
“Their outlook to life is positive,” adding that the visit would also aid their recovery “to improve their personal self-esteem and 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 pointed out that, being a member of the Invictus community, the visit would lay credence to the acceptance of the Nigerian Armed Forces, as the visit has become essential to Nigeria’s plan to hosting an Invictus game.
He emphasized 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 while in the country, the couple would visit Kaduna and Lagos states where they will also interact with the governors of the states.
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. They would then 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.
Also, on Sunday, AVM Marquis said that Harry and wife would be in Lagos to pay a courtesy visit on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and also visit a basketball court for the school their NGO is supporting in Lagos where a basketball exhibition Match would be held.
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