Nigeria’s fashion and dancing styles in the spotlight as Harry, Meghan visit its largest city

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria’s style and conventional dances had been at full show on Sunday as Prince Harry and Meghan arrived in its largest metropolis, Lagos, as a part of their three-day go to to the nation to advertise psychological well being for troopers and empower younger folks.

The couple, invited to the West African nation by its army, had been handled to completely different bouts of dancing, ranging from the Lagos airport the place a troupe’s acrobatic strikes left each applauding and grinning. One of many dancers, who seemed youthful than 5 years previous, exchanged salutes with Harry from excessive up within the air, standing on agency shoulders.

Going with Meghan’s white prime was the normal Nigerian aso oke, a patterned handwoven cloth wrapped across the waist and sometimes reserved for particular events. It was a present from a gaggle of girls a day earlier.

The couple visited an area charity – Giants of Africa — which makes use of basketball to empower younger folks. There, they had been handled to a different spherical of dancing earlier than unveiling a partnership between the group and their Archewell Basis.

“What you guys are doing right here at Giants of Africa is really wonderful,” Harry stated of the group. “The ability of sport can change lives. It brings folks collectively and creates group and there are not any limitations, which is a very powerful factor.”

Masai Ujiri, the charity’s president and an ex-NBA star, wished Meghan a cheerful Mom’s Day and acknowledged how arduous it may be “for us to be away from our youngsters and household to make issues like this occur.”

“To take action reveals dedication (and) we really recognize it,” he instructed the couple.

Meghan and Harry later attended a fundraiser for Nigeria’s troopers wounded within the nation’s battle towards Islamic extremists and different armed teams in the nation’s conflict-battered north. The occasion was associated to Harry’s Invictus Video games, which Nigeria is in search of to host sooner or later.

The couple had been additionally hosted on the Lagos State Authorities Home, the place Meghan obtained one other handwoven Nigerian cloth.

“We’ve prolonged a further invitation to them that they’ll at all times come again after they wish to,” Lagos Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu instructed reporters.

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Asadu reported from Abuja, Nigeria.