LAGOS, May 13, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Prince Harry and his wife Meghan wrapped up

their three-day visit to Nigeria on Sunday, arriving in the country's
economic capital Lagos during a trip to promote his Invictus Games for
wounded military veterans.

The Duke of Sussex arrived with his wife on Friday in Nigeria's capital Abuja
where they visited a school event on mental health, in a trip that also saw
the prince meet wounded Nigerian soldiers in the country's northwest.

On day three of the visit, Prince Harry and Meghan took part in a basketball
event with the Giants of Africa Foundation in Lagos, an organisation helping
youth through engagement in the sport.

The prince practised dribbling basketballs with children at the exhibition
event for the foundation, which is run by vice-president of an NBA team Masai
Ujiri.

"The power of sports can change lives, it brings people together and creates
community and there are no barriers which is the most important thing," the
prince said.

Harry, a former army captain who flew helicopters in Afghanistan, founded the
Invictus Games 10 years ago to help bring wounded veterans into sporting
events to aid with their recuperation.

The couple also met with Lagos State governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

"He has seen a lot and is still soaking in a whole lot," the governor said of
the prince's experience of Nigeria.

Later, the couple watched a charity exhibition match at Lagos polo club and
presented prizes to young participants.

- Nigerian heritage -

On Friday afternoon, Meghan sat on an event for women in leadership with
Nigerian-born World Trade Organization director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, where
the Duchess discussed her Nigerian heritage and being a role model to women.

"I want to start by saying thank you very much for just how gracious you've
all been in welcoming my husband and I to this country," she said to
applause, before adding, "my country".

"It's been really eye-opening and humbling to be able to know more about my
heritage and to be able to know, this is just the beginning of that
discovery."

In Abuja, the prince had also taken part in a seated volleyball match with
Nigerian veterans, some of who were missing limbs from combat in the
country's north where troops battle jihadists and heavily armed criminal
gangs.

On the Duke's volleyball team was former Nigerian soldier Peacemaker
Azuegbulam, who lost his leg in combat in the northeast, and became the first
African to win gold at the Invictus Games in Germany last year.

Before Nigeria, Prince Harry was in London on Wednesday to mark the 10th
anniversary of the games.

His trips to the UK since he moved to the United States in 2020 always prompt
fresh speculation over a potential reconciliation with his family. But he did
not meet with his father King Charles on this trip.

Nigeria's military forces are battling armed groups on several fronts.

A long-running jihadist insurgency in the northeast has killed more than
40,000 people and displaced another two million since 2009. Militants have
been pushed back from areas they once controlled, but they now target convoys
with roadside bombs.

In northwestern and central states, heavily armed criminal gangs, known
locally as bandits, carry out mass kidnappings for ransom and raid villages
from camps hidden deep in remote forests.