The Federal Government on Wednesday introduced a new policy banning recipients of honorary degrees from using the title “Dr” before their names in official, academic, or professional contexts.
It stated that doing so misrepresents academic credentials and will now be classified as academic fraud, carrying both legal and reputational penalties.
The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, announced the decision at the Presidential Villa in Abuja while briefing journalists on previously undisclosed approvals from the April 30 Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting. He was accompanied by the Minister of State for Education, Suwaiba Ahmad.
Alausa explained that the FEC had approved a standardized national policy to regulate the awarding and use of honorary degrees in Nigerian universities, aimed at addressing misuse, political favoritism, and financial influence. He noted growing concerns that such awards were increasingly being used for patronage and monetary gain, thereby weakening academic standards.
Under the new guidelines, honorary degree holders are no longer permitted to prefix their names with “Dr.” Instead, they must clearly indicate the honorary status of the award using designations such as “D.Lit. (Honoris Causa)” or “LL.D. Hons.”
The minister emphasized that presenting honorary degrees as earned qualifications will now be treated as academic fraud.
The policy also restricts honorary degrees to four categories: 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 offer active PhD programmes are prohibited from awarding honorary doctorates.
Alausa said the measure is intended to curb the trend of newer universities granting honorary degrees despite lacking sufficient research capacity. He added that all such awards must explicitly include terms like “honorary” or “Honoris Causa” on certificates and in official documentation.
He recalled that earlier efforts to regulate honorary degrees, including the 2012 “Keffi Declaration” by the Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities, were ineffective due to the absence of legal enforcement.
With full FEC approval, the new policy will now be implemented by the Federal Ministry of Education and the National Universities Commission (NUC).
The government plans to issue official guidelines to university authorities, monitor convocation ceremonies for compliance, and publish an annual list of legitimate honorary degree recipients to safeguard academic integrity.
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