By Abasi Ita
The Federal Government has prohibited recipients of honorary degrees from using the title “Dr” before their names in official, academic, or professional contexts, warning that violators will be treated as engaging in academic fraud.
The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, announced the directive on Wednesday in Abuja while briefing State House correspondents after a Federal Executive Council meeting.
Alausa said the policy was introduced to address what he described as the growing abuse and politicisation of honorary degrees in Nigeria’s tertiary education system.
“The recent trend in the award of honorary degrees has revealed increasing abuse and politicisation of this academic privilege,” he said.
He added that honorary degrees were increasingly being used for political patronage, financial inducement and recognition of serving public officials, contrary to established academic ethics.
“We have seen awards being used for political patronage, for financial gain, and the conferral of honorary degrees on serving public officials, which should not happen,” he said.
The minister warned that misrepresentation of honorary degrees as earned academic qualifications would now attract sanctions.
“Misrepresentation of honorary degrees as earned academic credentials shall be treated as academic fraud, with legal and reputational consequences,” he stated.
Under the new policy, holders of honorary degrees are barred from using “Dr” as a prefix. Instead, they must clearly indicate the honorary nature of the award after their names.
He gave examples such as “Chief Louis Clark, D.Lit. (Honoris Causa)” and “Mrs Miriam Adamu, LL.D. Honoris Causa,” noting that the format distinguishes honorary awards from earned doctorates.
Alausa further explained that only four categories of honorary degrees are now recognised: Doctor of Laws (LL.D), Doctor of Letters (D.Lit), Doctor of Science (D.Sc), and Doctor of Humanities (D.Arts).
He also stated that universities without active postgraduate research programmes leading to PhD awards will no longer be allowed to confer honorary degrees.
According to him, the move is aimed at curbing the proliferation of institutions that award honorary doctorates without meeting proper academic standards.
The minister added that the Federal Ministry of Education and the National Universities Commission (NUC) will issue implementation guidelines to all universities, while convocation ceremonies will be monitored for compliance.
He said a national register of honorary degree recipients will also be published annually to protect the integrity of academic qualifications in the country.
Alausa confirmed that the policy has been approved by the Federal Executive Council and is now enforceable nationwide.