Federal government has officially prohibited individuals holding honorary doctorate degrees from using the prefix “Dr” before their names, marking a major crackdown on the inflation of academic titles.
The directive, issued by the Federal Ministry of Education and the National Universities Commission (NUC), aims to restore the integrity of academic honors and distinguish between earned research degrees and ceremonial recognitions. Under the new guidelines, recipients of honorary degrees are only permitted to list the honor as a suffix in their curriculum vitae or formal profiles.
Speaking alongside the Minister of State for Education, Prof Suwaiba Ahmad, he said the government was concerned about the increasing abuse of honorary awards in recent years.
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 policy, recipients of honorary degrees are prohibited from prefixing “Dr” to their names and must instead indicate the honorary nature of the award after their names.
Alausa gave examples of the approved format, saying, “For instance, you can use Chief Louis Clark, D.Lit. (Doctor of Literature, Honoris Causa)” or “Mrs Miriam Adamu, LL.D. Hons.”
He stressed that the change was meant to clearly separate honorary awards from earned academic qualifications.
“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 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).
It further bars universities without active PhD-awarding programmes from conferring honorary degrees, a move targeted at newer institutions accused of lacking research capacity.
Alausa said all honorary degrees must clearly carry the terms “honorary” or “Honoris Causa” on certificates and official references.
He noted that concerns over the commercialisation and politicisation of honorary degrees had persisted for years within the education sector, with universities often accused of awarding them in exchange for financial or political favour.
He referenced the 2012 Keffi Declaration by the Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities, which attempted to regulate the practice but lacked legal backing.
“The association doesn’t have any legal backing to enforce anything.
“That is why we brought this to the Federal Executive Council, which now gives it legal and executive backing.”
Alausa said the Federal Ministry of Education and the National Universities Commission (NUC) would issue a circular to all universities for enforcement of the policy.
