The government of Nigeria has banned recipients of honorary degrees from using the title “Dr” in official, academic or professional settings, warning that violations will attract legal and reputational consequences.
Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, announced the directive on Wednesday in Abuja. He explained that the move was aimed at addressing what he described as the growing abuse and politicisation of honorary awards.
“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 new policy, honorary degree recipients are required to indicate the nature of their awards after their names, rather than using the “Dr” prefix.
“For instance, you can use Chief Louis Clark, D Lit (Doctor of Literature, Honoris Causa)” or “Mrs Miriam Adamu, LL D Hons.”
“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 government also limited honorary degrees that universities can confer to four categories: Doctor of Laws (LL D), Doctor of Letters (D Lit), Doctor of Science (D Sc) and Doctor of Humanities (D Arts).
In addition, institutions without active PhD-awarding programmes have been barred from granting honorary degrees, a measure aimed at curbing the trend among newer universities lacking postgraduate research capacity.
The minister said all honorary awards must clearly include the words “honorary” or “Honoris Causa” on certificates and in all references.
He noted that concerns over the commercialisation of honorary degrees had persisted for years, with some institutions accused of awarding them to wealthy individuals and public officials in exchange for financial or political favours.
