The National Universities Commission (NUC) has announced measures to curb the growing misuse of honorary doctorate degrees in the country, including a decisive ban on the award of such degrees to serving public officials.
The Executive Secretary of NUC, Professor Abdullahi Yusufu Ribadu, stated this in Abuja on Friday while receiving report from a committee investigating award and public use/misuse of honorary doctorate degrees by recipients in Nigeria.
Ribadu said the Commission was compelled to act following alarming findings from a nationwide investigation into how honorary degrees are awarded and used.
“These degrees are meant to recognise outstanding service or achievements, but unfortunately, they have increasingly been misused,” he said.
According to Ribadu, the trend has been worsened by the rise of unaccredited and illegal institutions, both local and foreign, operating as honorary degree mills.
Professor Ribadu explained that NUC’s investigation uncovered widespread violations, particularly of the Keffi Declaration of 2012, an agreement by Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian universities to regulate the award of honorary degrees.
The declaration expressly forbids universities from awarding honorary doctorates to serving public officials and cautions recipients against using the title “Dr” without proper disclosure.
“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.”
He warned that misuse of honorary titles undermines the integrity of universities and diminishes public trust in genuine academic qualifications.
According to him, the report identified 32 institutions to be operating as honorary degree mills in Nigeria.
These, he said include 10 unaccredited foreign universities, 4 unlicensed local universities, 15 professional bodies with no degree-awarding powers, and 3 other non-degree-awarding institutions.
Some of these entities, the NUC revealed, even go as far as awarding fake professorships.
“Let us be clear. Awarding honorary degrees is a legal responsibility of Nigerian universities. The law empowers the NUC to regulate both the award and the use of honorary doctorate degrees in Nigeria.”
He reiterated that only approved public or private universities are eligible to award honorary doctorate degrees. 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 doctorates and medical professionals.
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