…To meet wounded soldiers in Kaduna,others
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex Prince Harry and Meghan would arrived Nigeria on Friday for a 3-Day private visit, the Defence Headquarters,DHQ, confirmed yesterday in Abuja.
The Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, on whose invitation Prince Harry and Meghan are visiting said the founder of Invictus Game, will use the opportunity to visit wounded soldiers of the country insurgency.
chairman of the organising committee of the visit and Director of Sports at the DHQ,Vice Marshal Abidemi Marquise disclosed this in Abuja Thursday while briefing the press on activities lined up for the visit .
Marshal Marquis said that Prince Harry with his wife would visit wounded soldiers at Army Reference Hospital Kaduna on Saturday and interact with wounded soldiers and their families in Abuja as well as witness a novelty volleyball match during the visit.
He said the visit would go a long way to help the wounded soldiers who are recuperating.
Besides visiting the wounded soldiers, Princes Harry and Meghan would also visit Lagos on Sunday where they are supporting an NGO, before departing Nigeria on Monday.
Stressing the importance of the visit, Vice Marshal Meghan said “We realised that 80 per cent of our soldiers have been involved in this recovery programme 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.”
“The recovery programme 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.
Marquis also said the visit would lay credence to the fact that the Nigerian Armed Forces had been accepted as a member of the Invictus community.
Nigeria is also looking forward to hosting an Invictus game hence the reason for the visit. The Nigerian armed forces had concluded plan for the Game and built a state-of-the-art structure for the management of post-traumatic stress syndrome for wounded and injured soldiers engaged in the counter-insurgency operation.
According to itinerary Prince Harry and Meghan will be proceeding from Abuja to Nigerian Army Reference Hospital Kaduna where our wounded and injured soldiers are receiving treatment and medical attention.
“On Saturday, we will have something like an exhibition of novelty match 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 added.