The Federal Government on Wednesday barred recipients of honorary degrees from using the title “Dr” as a prefix to their names, declaring such practice a misrepresentation of academic credentials.
It warned that the misuse of honorary titles would henceforth be treated as academic fraud, attracting legal and reputational consequences.
The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, announced the directive at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, while briefing State House correspondents on approvals by the Federal Executive Council.
Alausa, who spoke alongside the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Ahmad, said the council approved a unified policy to regulate the award and usage of honorary degrees by Nigerian universities.
He explained that the move was aimed at curbing the abuse and politicisation of honorary awards, which he said had eroded public confidence in academic honours.
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 new guidelines, recipients are prohibited from prefixing “Dr” to their names in official, academic, or professional settings. Instead, they are required to indicate the honorary nature of the award after their names.
Alausa stated, “Recipients shall not prefix doctor to their names in official, academic or professional usage. Misrepresentation of honorary degrees as earned academic credentials shall be considered academic fraud.”
He added that acceptable formats would include the full designation of the award, such as D.Lit (Honoris Causa) or LL.D (Hons), to clearly distinguish honorary titles from earned degrees.
The policy also limits honorary degrees to four recognised categories—Doctor of Laws (LL.D), Doctor of Letters (D.Lit), Doctor of Science (D.Sc), and Doctor of Humanities (D.Arts).
In addition, universities without active doctoral programmes have been barred from conferring honorary degrees.
The minister said the restriction was necessary to address the growing trend of relatively new institutions awarding honorary titles despite lacking postgraduate research capacity.
He further noted that all honorary degrees must clearly carry the words “honorary” or “Honoris Causa” on certificates and in all official references.
Alausa disclosed that the Federal Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the National Universities Commission, would issue a directive to all universities and monitor compliance, including during convocation ceremonies.
He added that an annual list of legitimate honorary degree recipients would be published to safeguard the integrity of academic qualifications.
The development follows years of concern within the academic community over the commercialisation of honorary degrees, with critics accusing institutions of awarding them to influential individuals for patronage rather than merit.
