This Peer Review Of A Thing -By Abubakar Idris

For those whose businesses do not sell within and around the spectrum of the academia, most probably, the term “peer review” never can ring a bell; and for that, we open with that. Often used within the scientific community, an article, or any piece of work is said to be peer reviewed when it is subjected to scrutiny of experts in the same field of study before getting published. Thus, experts in the field are the peer(s), while their scrutiny of the work is the review. 1 + 1 = 2.

The purposes – as put simply by Kelly et al. (2014) in their ‘Peer Review in Scientific Publication: Benefits, Critiques, & A Survival Guide’ published by The Jornal of the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (JIFCC) and cited in more than 800 works – are to: check for relevance / importance / contribution in the area, validity of methodology, and novelty / originality of the work; and ensure improvement in the quality of manuscripts worthy of publication.

In any case, in this context, the argument is this: anybody who passed through this celebrated academic writing process, if really conducted as should be done, [can] considers themselves as Odogwu of some sort.

Uhm, you know… even as I claim to be a [forest] scientist, with a lot of my written works [mainly published under pseudonyms] appearing in both local and international dailies and magazines, to set the record straight, I must, here, confess that, to my credit, there exists NOT a single peer-reviewed publication! Except perhaps if the bar is to be lowered in respect of the few articles I was able to have got published by the International Society of Tropical Foresters (ISTF) – which I know say you no go gree do even as you know the editors are professional foresters. Anyway, I know that’s unfortunate on my part. Really unfortunate even. And to borrow from the American-sounding accent speaking Ugandan MP, Mr. Atkins Katusabe, whose video recently circulated on social media, “Mr. Speaker, I think this is a disaster.”

That said, why is Abubakar writing an article about ‘This Peer Review of a Thing’? Certainly not just to mock himself as having not published any scientific work. A curios mind is already pounding on this thought.

Truth is, this write-up is a protest.

The background: As is well known, recently, the POTUS, Mr. TACO, and his like-him arrogant ignorant drum beaters told the world a fat lie that paints Nigeria ugly – the accusation of Christian Genocide. Whatever the motive behind the unsubstantiated and impossible claim, while a clear fabrication on all fronts, the powerful man’s words (that include instructing the Pentagon to come with a plan for military intervention to save their created victims in the most populous black nation) threw the big house into a sensational chaos. Mr. K believes 131, Mrs. R opines 629, Dr. M dreams 450, Miss N thinks 347, and all. As this fire rages, confusion at its full play, as though in response by the insurgents, more organized more intensified attacks and kidnappings were unveiled – dealing some serious blows not just to the national security architecture, but also the country’s very sovereignty. And, no doubt, these troubles are much more prevalent in the lower-literate, poorer, hotter climate… Northern region (Arewa).

It’s therefore seriously concerning that instead of guiding their younger ones on how to consciously navigate the complex terrain, some “Arewa intellectuals” chose the path of misguiding them. Namely, keeping them busy with cheap arguments that are squarely based on their own personal glory – or lack of it – focused in toto on massaging their egos. Some pseudo intellectuals, one is tempted to say.

I genuinely don’t understand why a conscious people whose very existence is threatened by all kinds of terrorist groups and their families receiving a hell-style of beating by the harshest of known economic realities allow themselves to be consumed by debates around what credential qualifies one’s social media posts to be read and responded to, or whose comments are too raw, shallow, extreme, disrespectful, gullible, and intolerant enough for them to “chop block”. I don’t know what is, if this isn’t, a clear case of reckless joke.

In the seventh scene of Act II of William Shakespeare’s play ‘As You Like It’, a character Jaques says, “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts” – then goes on to describe the seven ages of a man’s life, comparing them to the roles an actor plays in a play. True to nature, in man’s lifecycle, there is an age for play, there is another for recklessness. Truth is almost all the Arewa intellectuals are supposed to be done with the said phases. Instead of play and recklessness, we expect wisdom from them.

When the story of Mazi Kanu’s sentence surfaced and dominated the headlines, I wasn’t as concerned when most of us were distracted – even if not majorly of Arewa, it is such a serious [in]security issue itself. But the credentials of our “espat”, oh h*ll no, I don’t get it, and I don’t want to get it. I thought our so called intellectuals know better, but, well, what do I know?!

Quickly, if you don’t mind my obsession with history, allow me to add this: Elsevier’s Publishing Guideline notes that, as a method of evaluating written work, this practice, fear (sorry, peer) review, has been in use since ancient Greece. And, it was first explained by a Syrian physician, Is’haq Ibn Ali Al-Rahwi (854-931 CE), in his book titled The Ethics of Physician. You gerrit? I don’t gerrit…

May this article be peer reviewed before it got published, aamiin!

Abubakar Idris, a scientist without any peer reviewed articles, is a graduate of forestry and Wildlife from University of Maiduguri. He writes from Auchi, Edo State, and can be reached via email at abubakaridrismisau@gmail.com or on phone through +2349030178211.