FG Bans Varsities from Awarding Honorary Doctorate Degrees to Serving Public Officials

The federal government, through the National Universities Commission (NUC), has imposed a ban on awarding honorary doctorate degrees to serving public officials, citing growing misuse of such titles.

The Executive Secretary of NUC, Professor Abdullahi Ribadu, announced the ban on Friday while receiving a report from a committee investigating the award and use of honorary doctorate degrees in Nigeria.

“These degrees are meant to recognise outstanding service or achievements, but unfortunately, they have increasingly been misused,” Ribadu said, noting that the decision follows alarming findings from a nationwide investigation.

The NUC chief highlighted that unaccredited and illegal institutions—both local and foreign—have worsened the trend, operating as honorary degree mills. The investigation also revealed widespread violations of the 2012 Keffi Declaration, which guides Nigerian universities on the award of honorary doctorates.

“The declaration expressly forbids universities from awarding honorary doctorates to serving public officials and cautions recipients against using the title ‘Dr’ without proper disclosure,” Ribadu explained.

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He added, “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.”

According to the report, 32 institutions were identified as operating as honorary degree mills. These include 10 unaccredited foreign universities, four unlicensed local universities, 15 professional bodies with no degree-awarding powers, and three other non-degree-awarding institutions. Some of these bodies even confer 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,” Ribadu said.

He further stressed that only approved public or private universities are eligible to confer honorary doctorates, and recipients must adopt correct designations such as Doctor of Literature (Honoris Causa) rather than the title ‘Dr,’ which is reserved for holders of earned doctorates and medical professionals.