The Federal Government has banned recipients of honorary degrees from prefixing “Dr” to their names, declaring the practice a misrepresentation of academic credentials and warning that it will now be treated as academic fraud.
Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, disclosed this on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa in Abuja while briefing State House correspondents on approvals reached by the Federal Executive Council from its April 30 meeting.
According to the minister, individuals awarded honorary doctorates can no longer use “Dr” before their names in official, academic, or professional settings. Instead, recipients are expected to place the honorary title after their names to clearly indicate its status as a non-academic award.
“Recipients shall not prefix doctor to their names in official, academic, or professional usage,” Alausa said, adding that “misrepresentation of honorary degrees as earned academic credentials shall be considered academic fraud and subject to legal and reputational consequences.”
He explained that acceptable formats include “Chief Louis Clark, D.Lit. (Doctor of Literature, Honoris Causa)” or “Mrs Miriam Adamu, LL.D. Hons.”
The government said the new policy is aimed at addressing the growing abuse of honorary degrees for political patronage and financial gain, practices it noted have weakened the integrity of academic honours in the country.
As part of the reforms, universities are now restricted to awarding only four categories of honorary degrees: Doctor of Laws (LL.D), Doctor of Letters (D.Lit), Doctor of Science (D.Sc), and Doctor of Humanities (D.Arts).
Institutions that do not run active PhD programmes have also been barred from conferring honorary degrees.
Alausa said recent developments revealed increasing misuse of honorary awards, including the conferment of honours on serving public officials, contrary to the ethical principles guiding such recognitions.
The policy follows new regulations introduced in February by the National Universities Commission to standardise the award and use of honorary doctorate degrees in Nigeria.
Under the guidelines, only approved public and private universities are permitted to confer honorary degrees, while institutions must have graduated PhD students before becoming eligible to grant such awards.
The regulations also stipulate that awards must recognise exceptional and sustained contributions to society, while selection processes must remain transparent and publicly accessible.
Serving public officials and self-nominated candidates are disqualified from receiving the honours. Universities are also prohibited from awarding more than three honorary degrees per convocation, and all awards must carry the designation “Honoris Causa” without any form of financial exchange.
Recipients may use the honorary title after their names, but they are barred from presenting themselves as academic or professional experts based solely on the award. Universities are further required to publish recipient lists for transparency and retain the power to withdraw honorary degrees in cases of misconduct.
