Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry, and Princess Meghan, will arrive in Nigeria on Friday, May 10, 2024.
The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) said they would be on a 3-Day visit geared towards the wounded soldiers from different military operations and the Invictus games.
Prince Harry—the founder of the Invictus Games, who is also an invitee of The Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa—would enable him to visit and
interact with some of the wounded soldiers.
Air Vice Marshal Abidemi Marquis, the Director of Sports, Defence headquarters, and chairman of the organizing committee of the visit, unveiled at a briefing, the planned activities for the visit.
He said that Prince Harry, the founder of the Invictus Game, would with his wife, visit wounded soldiers at Army Reference Hospital Kaduna on Saturday, interact with wounded soldiers and their families in Abuja also, and witness a volleyball match played by wounded soldiers and the CDS team during the visit.
Marquis also said they would visit Lagos on Sunday, where they would be supporting an NGO, and be a guest of Governor Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State before departing Nigeria on Monday.
Detailing the positive impacts of the visit, AVM Abidemi Marquis said, “We realized that 80 percent of our soldiers have been involved in this recovery program and they are getting better. Their outlook on life is positive because when you experience a permanent disability, it affects your mental health and also your outlook on life.”
He disclosed that the visit would attest to the fact that the Nigerian Armed Forces has been accepted as a member of the Invictus community. He stated that Nigeria is also looking forward to being the host of an Invictus game, making it one of the main reasons for the visit, also stated that the Nigerian armed forces have concluded plans to build a state-of-the-art Invictus structure for the management of post-traumatic stress syndrome for
wounded and injured soldiers due to the engagement in the counter-insurgency operation.
“The recovery program has given them an opportunity to improve their personal self-esteem, to improve their mental health, their emotional intelligence, and also their families seeing them continuing living.
“So this engagement with Invictus is giving us the opportunity for a recovery for our soldiers,’’ he said.
“They will be proceeding to Kaduna to visit the Nigerian Army Reference Hospital where our wounded and injured soldiers are kept for their medical recovery.
“On Saturday, we will have something like an exhibition of novelty matches where the CDS team and the Duke team will be having a volleyball match at the Armed Forces Officers Mess.
“This is just to engage with the wounded and injured soldiers. It’s a sitting volleyball match coming in the morning,” he said.
