20, 2020 from the online broadcast of the Democratic National
Convention, being held virtually amid the novel coronavirus
pandemic, shows California Governor Gavin Newsom speaking from
California during the last day of the convention. (Photo by – /
DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION / AFP)
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Some of California’s largest-ever fires raged across the
state Saturday, forcing tens of thousands from their homes as the
governor called for international help to fight the
blazes.
About 12,000 lightning strikes hit across the state in 72 hours,
officials said, sparking the fires that left thick smoke blanketing
large areas of central and northern California.
“We simply haven’t seen anything like this in many, many years,”
California governor Gavin Newsom said on Friday.
The two largest blazes — dubbed the SCU Lightening Complex and
the LNU Lightening Complex — had burned a total of just under
600,000 acres (240,000 hectares) and nearly 500 structures.
Wineries in the famed Napa and Sonoma regions, which are still
reeling from blazes in recent years, are under threat by the SCU
Complex — the 10th largest fire recorded.
Five deaths have been linked to the latest flare-ups, with four
bodies recovered on Thursday, including three from a burned house
in a rural area of Napa County.
Nature reserves were also ravaged. The Big Basin Redwoods State
Park said in a statement that some of its historic buildings had
been destroyed by flames.
The park, where giant redwood trees of well over 500 years old
can be found, was “extensively damaged” it said.
Scorching temperatures and bone-dry conditions had spurred the
flames, Cal Fire’s assistant deputy director Daniel Berlant said,
though some progress at containing the fires had been made.
Temperatures were expected to cool slightly at the weekend, he
added, but there was potential for more ignitions as early as
Sunday evening.
“We could again experience a lightning storm so that has us
remaining on high alert,” Berlant said.
About 119,000 people have been evacuated from the area, with
many struggling to find shelter and hesitating to go to centers set
up by authorities because of coronavirus risks.
Some in counties south of San Francisco opted to sleep in
trailers along the Pacific Ocean as they fled nearby fires, while
tourists in Santa Cruz County were urged to leave to free up
accommodation for those evacuating their houses.
‘World’s best firefighters’
Fire crews, surveillance equipment and other firefighting
hardware was coming in from several states including Oregon, New
Mexico and Texas, to fight the fires Governor Newsom told reporters
Friday.
But faced with the sheer scope of the disaster, he also asked
for help from Canada and Australia, which he said had “the world’s
best firefighters”.
Most of the fires are burning in unpopulated areas and statewide
have blazed through some 771,000 acres — an area the size of Rhode
Island state — he said.
Newsom also walked back criticism of President Donald Trump from
Thursday.
Newsom had taken aim at the US leader in a taped speech to the
Democratic National Convention, saying Trump had threatened to pull
California’s funding for wildfire suppression for alleged poor
forest management.
“There is not one phone call I have made to the president where
he hasn’t quickly responded, and almost in every instance has
responded favorably … as it related to these wildfires,” he said
Friday.
“He may make statements publicly, but the working relationship
privately has been a very effective one.”
In San Francisco, the smell of smoke lingered for the third
consecutive day on Friday, with authorities urging residents to
stay indoors.
“The many fire complexes burning around the Bay Area and Central
Coast will keep skies hazy and smoky, at least in the short term,”
the National Weather Service said.
Authorities in the Bay Area, which encompasses seven counties,
issued an air quality alert in effect through Sunday.
-AFP
Sunday Dare
How National Sports Industry Policy will Promote Job
Creation – Dare
The 2020 Draft National Sports Industry Policy has been
generating a lot of interest since it was released to the general
public for review and necessary input. For us in the Ministry,
especially in the light of the Federal Government’s effort to
partner with the private sector in the quest to diversify the
economy and provide a sound footing for the country’s
socio-economic development through investments in non-oil sectors,
we believe this policy is a great step in positioning sports as the
center of development of several ancillary industries associated
with the sector, that will promote sports development and jobs
creation.
It must be emphasized that no development can be meaningful
without outlining government’s statement of intent for the sector,
through a National Policy, and the sports sector cannot be
different. The thrust of the Sports Industrialization Policy is
based on the Concept of the 3Is and 1P – Infrastructure development
based on attracting Incentives backed Investment, all driven by a
robust Policy that sets out how government intends to structure the
process of achieving its objectives of a productive sports
sector.
A structured process to arrive at the policy document was
designed and adopted in collaboration with the private sector as
represented by the NESG. Together we held several engagement
sessions over a 4-month period (November 2019 – March 2020) with
various stakeholders from across sports and non-sports sectors.
The COVID19 pandemic presented challenges on how to harmonise
these sessions into a representation of the goals and objectives of
the stakeholders, but the prevailing reality of non-contact working
protocols meant that the work of drafting the policy had to be done
virtually.
A Road Map was designed and adopted by the Supervising Committee
(Sports Industry Working Group – set up by the Ministry in February
2020 and tasked with several mandates, chief of which was to
deliver a draft National Sports Industry Policy).
The Road Map clearly provided for 6 Phases towards final
approval of the policy by the Federal Government. These processes
are ongoing and will eventually culminate in the presentation of
the Policy for approval by the Federal Executive Council.
It must be noted that this is the first time a draft sports
policy has been made available for the general public for scrutiny
and contribution. On advice of stakeholders, the review period was
extended by 10 days to enable more people to access the document
and send in their views. This stage of the policy development
process ended on Friday 14th August, 2020, and all submitted
reviews are being collated for validation and inclusion into the
draft policy before forwarding to the National Council of Sports
for their input and endorsement.
The Ministry applauds Members of the Supervising Committee as
well as the Policy Drafting Committee for their commitment to the
process and contribution to national development and we are indeed
appreciative of their willingness to serve the nation
selflessly.
While we acknowledge that we may not satisfy the desire of ALL
Nigerians to make a contribution to the policy document, we are
satisfied that the process designed for achieving this draft policy
encompassed stakeholders across the whole spectrum of sports
development.
What we have put in the public domain is a draft and subject to
changes based on constructive feedbacks. The Ministry is committed
to delivering a robust business model for sports industry
development in Nigeria. Sports is an economic activity all over the
world, and Nigeria cannot be different. The process of developing
athletes from raw material to finished product capable of sustained
podium success cannot continue to be a hit or miss affair as we
have done in the past.
The contributions of the private and social enterprise sectors
into developing the sports value chain cannot be ignored any longer
if we are to harness the full potential and power of sports for
both social and economic development.
The new National Sports Industry Policy is a first step towards
achieving this goal. We therefore call on all Stakeholders to
embrace the process and assist in delivering on this objective.
Lere-Adams. A.B.
Director Press.