On 11 August 2019, Sahara Reporters which is reputed for its investigative journalism, published a story on a Nigerian physicist that won a competition which declared him as the “father of modern Einstein’s planetary equation”.
But this is a scam, one that continues to be made popular by the Nigerian media and top personalities seeking to promote positive stories about the country without proper verification.
In a clime heavily dominated with junk copy-and-paste journalism, the story soon went viral as several other platforms published the news which resonated across social media – understandably fuelled by citizens’ quest for positive news that could be attributed to the country which continues to be faced with several disappointing developments including allegations and accusations involving Nigerian Police and the Military over the death of police officers who were killed by soldiers while transporting a suspected kidnapper, inability of the legislative arm of government to punish a senator that was caught on camera beating up a woman, incessant crimes, coupled with controversies surrounding a rape accusation against one of the country’s leading pastors that has lost steam.
According to the media report, Dr. Yakubu Nura of the University of Maiduguri, in Nigeria, won the World Physics Competition by defeating about 5720 contenders from 97 countries.
“World Championship-2019 in Physics (Einstein’s planetary equation) acknowledged the outstanding international contributions and selected him “based on international meritorious competition”. Dr. Nura’s research article was announced winner among 5721 nominations from 97 countries, screened for the World Championship-2019 in Physics (Einstein’s planetary equation),” Sahara Reporters and others reported.
The news was applauded by leading organisations and individuals including NTA, Voice of Nigeria, Shehu Sani and Kadaria Ahmed.
But this is a scam
Investigations by TechCity revealed several obvious evidences that suggested that the competition was a scam. A Google search led to the website where the official announcement was made. The website uses a sites.google.com URL.
Another obvious sign indicating the award’s inauthenticity is the name of the organizer of the award. Referred to as the International Agency for Standards and Ratings, the site is also yet another sites.google.com website. Interestingly, the award and the agency are both using the same email address which is a Gmail account. And in addition to the award, the agency also sells certification and accreditation certificates.
“Services include Financial, Banking, Telecommunication, technical, Hospital, Clinic, Health, medical, well being, hospitality, travel and tourism, Public administration, Placement, Taxation, School, University, College, Household, Online, Physical, Services Occupational health and safety, Food safety, Disaster management, Fire safety, Management and consultancy services and others.”
TechCity also observed that the award did not disclose its review board nor an official award conferment date. Applying for the award is also without any deadline.
It said the registration ends on the “Last Date – 31st of every month” while “Registrations are open every month each year.”
Still in doubt? For a specialised industry like physics, it would be expected that the award would be specialised and administered by a physics-focused organisation. But this is not the case. TechCity observed that the platform gives awards to every field of endeavor.
“Nominations are invited throughout the year for meritorious international competition in all areas of academics,” it said on its website.
The scientist himself
To understand the scientist that got awarded, TechCity decided to check out his previous publications in the field of physics. None was found in the world’s top physics journals but he had articles in predatory journals. One of his works entitled “Energy Performance Evaluation for Three Selected Common Commercial Vehicles Based on Fuel Economy” was published in the carefully named American Journal of Modern Physics published by Science Publishing Group known for publishing almost anything submitted for a fee.
In an experiment, university professor Fiona McQuarrie submitted an article to a journal from Science Publishing Group, using pseudonyms Maggie Simpson and Edna Krabappel (characters from the cartoon series The Simpsons). Although the article had been generated by the SCIgen computer program and was nonsensical, it was accepted for publication. Librarian Jeffrey Beall, creator of a list of predatory open-access publishers, in 2014 pseudonymously published a nonsensical article in American Journal of Applied Mathematics, another journal published by the group.
Nura has consistently published in journals published by this publisher that has been flagged for publishing predatory journals. Here’s one one of his published articles, here is another.
Lazy journalists/news editors?
Nura’s is not the only one that escaped the rigorous check of journalists. In October 2018, The Guardian also published a story regarding another Nigerian scientist that bagged a similarly worded award from the organisers.
Those behind the scam are also having a field day in India as evident in this news report of another award that was conferred on an Indian scientist.
Scientists expressed concerns about the increasing influence of fake awards and journals in the scientific clime in Nigeria.
“The saddest thing about this fraud, for me, is that news organizations like the NTA, Voice of Nigeria, Sahara Reporters, and even well-known people like Shehu Sani and Kadaria Ahmed fell for it. It’s an easily detectable scam. Nigerians have to the world’s greatest suckers for cheap scams,” said media scholar Farooq Kperogi.
It is also worthy to note that only Nigerian media outlets are publishing reports on the suspicious awards as international media, including those focusing on science, are not covering the supposedly global feats of the Nigerian scientists.
Furthermore, the people behind the award seem to have found a ready market among Nigerian scientists, including professors, for their scam. A search for Nigeria on this list of current and previous winners yielded 57 results.