The Federal Government has issued a definitive directive prohibiting recipients of honorary degrees from using the title “Dr” before their names, warning that those who persist in the practice risk being prosecuted for academic fraud.
The directive follows a new policy ratified by the Federal Executive Council, designed to regulate the conferral and usage of honorary degrees within the Nigerian university system. The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, announced the decision on Wednesday during a press briefing at the Presidential Villa, accompanied by the Minister of State for Education, Dr Suwaiba Ahmad.
Minister Alausa stated that the policy was necessitated by the rampant “abuse and politicisation” of honorary doctorates. The government noted with concern that these awards were increasingly being utilised as tools for political patronage and financial inducement, rather than as tokens of genuine academic or societal recognition.
“The recent trend we’ve seen with the award of honorary degrees has revealed a growing abuse and politicisation of this academic privilege,” the Minister remarked. “We’ve seen awards being used for political patronage, for financial gain, as well as the conferral of awards on serving public officials, which… should not happen.”
Under the new regulations, honorary awardees are strictly forbidden from prefixing their names with “Doctor” in official, professional, or academic contexts. Instead, the honorary nature of the award must be indicated as a post-nominal title.
The Minister provided specific examples of the approved format: Chief Louis Clark, D.Lit. (Doctor of Literature, Honoris Causa), Mrs Miriam Adamu, LL.D. Hons.
Failure to adhere to this format will be viewed as a misrepresentation of academic credentials. “Misrepresentation of honorary degrees as earned academic credentials shall be considered academic fraud and subject to legal and reputational consequences,” the Minister warned.
To further protect the integrity of the doctoral title, the Federal Government has introduced several institutional safeguards: Restricted Categories: Universities are now limited to conferring honorary degrees in only four categories: Doctor of Laws, Doctor of Letters, Doctor of Science, and Doctor of Humanities. Eligibility Criteria: Institutions without active, established PhD programmes are now prohibited from conferring honorary degrees. This move aims to prevent nascent institutions without research capacity from issuing high-level honours. Mandatory Inscriptions: All honorary certificates must clearly bear the inscription “honorary” or “Honoris Causa.”
Addressing previous failed attempts at regulation, such as the 2012 Keffi Declaration, Alausa noted that those initiatives lacked the necessary legal teeth. By securing the endorsement of the Federal Executive Council, the new policy now carries full executive and legal backing.
The Federal Ministry of Education, in conjunction with the National Universities Commission (NUC), will henceforth monitor convocation ceremonies nationwide to ensure strict compliance. Additionally, the government intends to publish an annual register of legitimate honorary degree recipients to safeguard the sanctity of Nigeria’s academic qualifications.
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