The Federal Government on Wednesday prohibited beneficiaries of honorary degrees from attaching “Dr” as a prefix to their names in official, academic, or professional contexts.
It stated that adopting the title in such cases amounts to a false representation of academic qualifications, which will now be regarded as academic fraud, attracting legal and reputational sanctions.
The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, announced this on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, while addressing State House correspondents on two Federal Executive Council approvals that were not disclosed at the previous cabinet meeting held on April 30.
Alausa, who appeared alongside the Minister of State for Education, Prof Suwaiba Ahmad, said the FEC had endorsed a standardised policy regulating the conferment and usage of honorary degrees by Nigerian universities.
He explained that the framework aims to curb what he described as years of indiscriminate awards driven by political patronage and financial motives, while restoring public trust in academic titles.
He said, “The recent trend we’ve seen with the award of honorary degrees has revealed a growing abuse and politicisation of this academic privilege.
“We’ve seen awards being used for political patronage, for financial gain, as well as the conferral of awards on serving public officials, which, as part of the ethics of honorary degree awards, should not happen.”
Under the revised policy, recipients of honorary degrees are barred from placing “Dr” before their names.
Rather, they are required to indicate the complete honorary designation after their names.
Providing illustrations, Alausa explained, “For instance, you can use Chief Louis Clark, D.Lit. (Doctor of Literature, Honoris Causa)” or “Mrs Miriam Adamu, LL.D. Hons.”
Alausa said this format clearly reflects the honorary rather than earned academic nature of the award.
“Recipients shall not prefix doctor to their names in official, academic or professional usage,” the minister said, adding, “Misrepresentation of honorary degrees as earned academic credentials shall be considered academic fraud and subject to legal and reputational consequences.”
The policy also limits the categories of honorary degrees Nigerian universities may award to four: Doctor of Laws (LL.D), Doctor of Letters (D.Lit), Doctor of Science (D.Sc), and Doctor of Humanities (D.Arts).
It further prohibits institutions without operational PhD-awarding programmes from granting honorary degrees altogether.
Alausa said the restriction targets the surge of newer universities conferring honorary doctorates despite being less than five years old and lacking postgraduate research capacity.
The minister emphasised that all honorary degrees must clearly include the terms “honorary” or “Honoris Causa” on certificates and in all formal references.
For more than a decade, concerns about the monetisation and politicisation of honorary degrees have persisted within Nigeria’s academic space, with universities frequently accused of granting such honours to wealthy benefactors and public officials in return for financial support rather than merit.
In 2012, the Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities attempted to tackle the issue through what became known as the Keffi Declaration.
The declaration set out guiding standards for awarding honorary degrees but lacked legal or executive authority and was largely disregarded, Alausa said on Wednesday.
He explained, “The association doesn’t have any legal backing to enforce anything.
“That is why we brought this to the Federal Executive Council, which now gives it legal and executive backing.”
The minister said the Federal Ministry of Education and the National Universities Commission will circulate the directive to all vice-chancellors, registrars, and governing councils.
He added that convocation ceremonies will be supervised for compliance, while the government will work with the media to discourage the misuse of academic titles by honorary awardees.
The ministry will also release an annual list of verified honorary degree recipients to safeguard the credibility of earned academic qualifications, Alausa said.
He noted that the NUC holds the statutory authority to enforce the policy.
