Controversy trails global physics award to Nigerian academic

Controversy has trailed the international award won by a Nigerian physicist and academic, Dr. Yakubu Nura, who was named as the winner of the world championship in physics organised by the International Agency for Standards and Ratings (IASR).

The agency in announcing Dr. Nura as the father of modern Einstein’s planetary equation studies in physics, said the his research article was chosen for the top prize from among 5, 721 nominations from 97 countries, screened for the world championship 2019 in physics

A statement by the agency, stated that the “International Agency for Standards and Ratings IASR recognizes Dr. Yakubu Nura among world’s 500 most influential experts in physics for the Year 2019 on earth.”

It added that the purpose of the award is to identify brilliant scientists and academicians around the world through the world championship.

When news of the award broke, accolades had poured in for Dr. Nura, for achieving such a remarkable feat in the field of physics.

The Federal Government had also congratulated him and was contemplating honouring him when questions about the genuineness of the award was called to question by academics and experts in the field of physics.

Critics described the agency doling out the award as fake and non-existent and was scamming those it gives awards to by collecting monies from the gullible awardees.

According to Prof. Farroq Kperogi, an American based mass communication lecturer, Dr. Nura didn’t win any world physics competition.

He explained on his Facebook page that the Nigerian cyber space is being lit up with the news that a certain Dr. Yakubu Nuru of the University of Maiduguri has won the World Physics competition by defeating about 5, 720 contenders from 97 countries.

“This feat reputedly earned him the distinction of becoming the father of modern Einstein’s planetary equation studies in physics. The truth is that Dr. Nura is the willing victim of a scam, a kind of scam I call scams of ego, which prey on the status anxieties and low self-esteem of insecure, fraud-prone people.

“The World Championship, the organisation that conferred the award on Dr. Nura, is a well-known scam operation that does not, for strategically fraudulent reasons, have a site with its own domain name. It uses a free sites.google.com account to perpetrate its scams.

“Anyone who pays a fee can get any; I mean any award from the site. Check the site to see the list of award winners; it features in every imaginable field. You will find many Nigerians there.

Some past Nigerian winners even managed to scam the ever credulous Nigerian news media into publicizing their feat.

“For instance, one Dr. Kaywood Leizou of the Niger Delta University (NDU) got the Guardian to write a story about his award from this same fraudulent site on October 19, 2018.

Titled: “Bayelsa don wins global chemical sciences contest,” the report said the Bayelsa-born don beat 5, 845 others from 89 countries whose nominations were screened for this year’s edition.

Consequently, the International Agency for Standards and Ratings (IASR) has recognised Leizou as one the world’s 500 most influential experts on earth in chemical sciences for the year,” Prof. Kperogi said.

Similarly, in 2018, he added that the same website conferred one Dr. Shuaib Idris Mohammed of Edo State with the World Champion in agricultural extension (credit facilities) award out of 91 countries.

Furthermore, the academic alleged that the site added that “Dr. Shuaib Idris Mohammed is now recognized as father of modern credit facilities in agricultural extension.

The purpose of the award is to identify brilliant scientists and academicians around the world through World Championship.

The World Championship is organized by International Agency for Standards and Ratings at international level.

“Sounds familiar? That’s the exact language used for Dr. Nura. The same suspiciously, atrocious grammar. The contenders for the awards are always in the thousands and from more than 90 countries in the world.

“But, nothing in Nura’s scholarly records and those of others who have been made fathers of whole disciplinary specialties by the fraudulent site suggests that he is anywhere close to the pinnacle of his career.

In fact, most of his articles are published in dodgy, predatory journals that publish anything submitted to them for a fee.

“The saddest thing about this fraud, for me, is that news organisations 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, in my opinion. Nigerians have to be the world’s greatest suckers for cheap scams!”