The Federal Government has banned recipients of honorary degrees from prefixing “Dr” to their names, declaring such usage a misrepresentation of academic credentials and warning that it will now be treated as academic fraud.
The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, disclosed this on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, while briefing State House correspondents on approvals by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) from its April 30 meeting.
Honorary degrees are academic distinctions awarded by universities to individuals in recognition of their contributions to society, rather than through formal academic study or research.
What they are saying
Explaining the new policy, the minister said recipients can no longer use ‘Dr’ before their names. Instead, they are required to place the full honorary title after their names to clearly indicate its non-academic nature.
- “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.”
- He illustrated the proper usage with examples such as, “For instance, you can use Chief Louis Clark, D.Lit. (Doctor of Literature, Honoris Causa)” or “Mrs Miriam Adamu, LL.D. Hons.”
More insights
The policy is also aimed at curbing what the government described as the long-standing abuse of honorary degrees for political patronage and financial gain—an entrenched practice that has undermined the integrity of academic awards.
- As part of the reforms, universities are now limited to awarding only four categories of honorary degrees: Doctor of Laws (LL.D), Doctor of Letters (D.Lit), Doctor of Science (D.Sc), and Doctor of Humanities (D.Arts).
Additionally, institutions that do not run active PhD programmes are prohibited from conferring honorary degrees altogether.
Alausa noted that recent developments have exposed increasing misuse of honorary awards.
- “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,” he said.
What you should know
The development follows new regulations introduced in February by the National Universities Commission, which issued 16 guidelines to standardise the award and use of honorary doctorate degrees in Nigeria.
Among the key provisions:
- Only approved public and private universities can confer honorary degrees.
- Only institutions that have graduated PhD students are eligible to grant such awards.
- Awards must recognise exceptional and sustained contributions while reflecting institutional values.
- Selection criteria must be transparent and publicly accessible.
- Serving public officials and self-nominated candidates are disqualified.
Other provisions require that nominations pass through statutory committees and receive Senate and Governing Council approval, with no more than three awards per convocation. All honorary degrees must include “Honoris Causa” and be awarded without any financial exchange.
Recipients are permitted to use the honorary title after their names, but cannot present themselves as academic or professional experts based on the award. Universities must also provide proper guidance on usage, publish recipient lists for transparency, and retain the right to withdraw awards in cases of misconduct.
