The National Universities Commission has issued 16 new guidelines regulating the award and use of honorary doctorate degrees in Nigeria.
This was contained in a public notice released by the Commission pursuant to its powers under the Education (National Minimum Standards and Establishment of Institutions) Act, CAP E3, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
The guidelines are designed to regulate the conferment process, preserve academic integrity and safeguard the credibility and global reputation of the Nigerian University System.
What the NUC said
According to the Commission, there has been an increasing trend of abuse and misrepresentation of honorary doctorate degrees, both locally and internationally.
- “The Commission has observed, with grave concern, the increasing incidence of indiscriminate conferment and misuse of Honorary Doctorate Degrees within the Nigerian University System. In response to this development, the Management of the Commission has approved comprehensive Guidelines for the Award and Use of Honorary Doctorate Degrees in Nigeria. The Guidelines are intended to regulate the conferment process, preserve academic integrity and safeguard the credibility of the Nigerian University System,” they stated.
- It clarified that honorary doctorate degrees, whether awarded in Nigeria or abroad, are honorary distinctions and must not be presented or regarded as equivalent to earned academic doctorate qualifications.
The NUC warned that regulatory sanctions would be imposed on any institution found to have violated the guidelines, as well as on individuals who misuse honorary titles.
The 16 key guidelines
- Only approved universities (either public or private) are eligible to award honorary doctorate degrees in Nigeria.
- Only universities that have graduated the first set of PhD students are eligible to award honorary doctorate degrees in Nigeria.
- The purpose of the award shall be to recognize exceptional and sustained contributions, reflect institutional values, and ensure diversity.
- The criteria for the award shall be clear and transparent, with balanced representation across gender, race, nationality, and discipline to avoid conflicts of interest. All procedures for selecting and awarding honorary doctorate degrees shall be clearly stated on the official website of the awarding institution and made accessible.
- Self-nominated candidates and elected or appointed serving public officials are excluded.
- All aspects of the honorary doctorate degrees shall be treated with the highest level of confidentiality, and nominees shall only be contacted after their nominations have been approved by the Senate and Governing Council.
- All nominations shall be processed by the statutory committee.
- All nominations require University Senate and Governing Council approval.
- The number of awards at each convocation shall not exceed three (3).
- All honorary doctorate degrees shall contain the nomenclature or title Honoris Causa. For example: Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa), D.Sc. (h.c.)
- Shall be in-person at the ceremony. In exceptional cases, the conferment may be done virtually or in absentia; it may be awarded posthumously.
- Honorary doctorate degrees shall be conferred without any fee or expectation of payment from the recipients.
- The recipients are at liberty to use the approved nomenclature or title of the honorary doctorate degree, such as Doctor of Law (Honoris Causa) or LL.D. (h.c.); Doctor of Letters (Honoris Causa) or D.Litt. (h.c.) after their names. However, they are not permitted to use “Dr.”, which is reserved for holders of earned degrees and medical professionals. Additionally, they are not permitted to use the honorary doctorate degree to practise as scholars or professionals, oversee administrative units, or supervise research work.
- All awarding universities shall provide both written and verbal orientation to recipients on how to use the award.
- All universities shall regularly publish the names of honorary doctorate degree recipients on their official website and make it accessible to the public, in order to uphold transparency.
- All awarding universities shall provide a formal mechanism to rescind awards if a recipient is convicted of fraud or has engaged in any unethical conduct that is inconsistent with the values of the awarding institution.
What you should know
The committee, inaugurated on September 1, 2025, by Executive Secretary Prof. Abdullahi Ribadu, was set up after a wave of petitions from citizens and stakeholders over what the Commission described as the indiscriminate conferment and unethical use of honorary titles.
The committee identified 32 institutions operating as honorary doctorate “degree mills.”
These include 10 foreign agricultural universities, four unlicensed local universities, 15 professional bodies without degree-awarding powers, and three non-degree-awarding institutions. Some were also found to be conferring fake professorships.
The Commission reiterated that only approved Nigerian universities are legally permitted to award honorary doctorates under the Education Act.
It also stressed that recipients must not use the prefix “Dr.”, assume academic roles, supervise research, or present themselves as certified professionals on the basis of honorary awards.
