The National Universities Commission (NUC) has introduced far-reaching measures to curb the widespread misuse of honorary doctorate degrees in the country, including a decisive ban on universities awarding such honours to serving public officials.
The Executive Secretary of the NUC, Professor Abdullahi Yusufu Ribadu, announced the new directives on Friday in Abuja while receiving the report of a committee established to investigate the award and public use of honorary doctorate degrees in Nigeria.
Ribadu said the Commission acted after a nationwide investigation revealed alarming levels of abuse, manipulation and fraudulent conferment of honorary titles, particularly by unaccredited and illegal institutions operating as “honorary degree mills”.
“These degrees are meant to recognise outstanding service or achievements, but unfortunately, they have increasingly been misused. We cannot allow this to continue”, he said.
According to him, the findings showed widespread violations of the Keffi Declaration of 2012, in which Nigerian Vice-Chancellors agreed to regulate the award of honorary degrees. The declaration forbids universities from conferring honorary doctorates on serving public officials and warns recipients against using the title “Dr” without proper clarification.
“This is not just a matter of ethics; it is a matter of law. Using the title ‘Dr’ based on an honorary degree without clarification amounts to false representation, which is punishable under various fraud-related laws in Nigeria”, Ribadu cautioned.
The investigative committee identified 32 entities operating as honorary degree mills in the country. These include 10 unaccredited foreign universities, 4 unlicensed local institutions, 15 professional bodies without legal degree-awarding powers, and 3 other unapproved institutions. Some of them, the NUC added, even issue fake professorships.
Ribadu stressed that only approved public or private universities are authorised to award honorary doctorate degrees, and even then, recipients must use appropriate nomenclature, such as Doctor of Literature (Honoris Causa), rather than adopting the title “Dr”, which is reserved for holders of earned doctoral degrees and medical professionals.
He said the misuse of honorary titles undermines the integrity of the university system and erodes public confidence in genuine academic qualifications.
“Let us be clear. Awarding honorary degrees is a legal responsibility of Nigerian universities. The NUC is empowered by law to regulate both the award and the use of honorary doctorate degrees in Nigeria”, said Ribadu.
The Commission said it will begin strict enforcement of the new measures to sanitise the system and restore dignity to honorary recognitions nationwide.
