ABUJA — The Federal Government on Wednesday announced a ban on honorary degree holders prefixing “Dr” to their names in official, academic, or professional usage.
The government also established the National Research and Development Fund, with an annual allocation of $500 million.
These decisions were disclosed by the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, while briefing State House correspondents on the two memoranda he presented to the Federal Executive Council, FEC, at its meeting last Thursday, which were approved.
He said the FEC approved a uniform policy for the award and use of honorary degrees by Nigerian universities.
Alausa, who was flanked by the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Ahmad, said the use of “Dr.” by people who do not merit it is an abuse of the doctorate degree.
He said the use of the title by such recipients constitutes a misrepresentation of academic credentials that would henceforth be treated as academic fraud, with attendant legal and reputational consequences.
The policy, he explained, is designed to end what he described as decades of indiscriminate conferment of the degrees for political patronage and financial gain, and to restore public confidence in the integrity of academic titles.
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 conferment 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 may no longer prefix “Dr” to their names.
Instead, they must cite the full honorary designation after their names.
Giving examples of usage, Alausa explained, “For instance, you can use Chief Louis Clark, D.Lit. (Doctor of Literature, Honoris Causa)” or “Mrs Miriam Adamu, LL.D. Hons.” Alausa said this format clearly shows the honorary, rather than earned, academic nature of the award.
“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 the types of honorary degrees Nigerian universities can confer to four: 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 at all.
Alausa said the restriction is aimed at the proliferation of newer institutions that have been awarding honorary doctorates despite being less than five years old and having no postgraduate research programmes.
The minister noted that all honorary degrees must carry the words “honorary” or “Honoris Causa” on the award certificate and in all references.
For over a decade, concerns over the commercialisation and politicisation of honorary degrees have been raised in Nigeria’s academic community, with universities often seen awarding the degrees to wealthy donors and public officials in exchange for financial patronage rather than on the basis of merit.
In 2012, the Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities attempted to address the challenge in what became known as the Keffi Declaration.
The Keffi Declaration outlined a set of guiding principles for the award of honorary degrees.
However, the document had no legal or executive backing and was therefore largely ignored, Alausa said.
He explained, “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.”
The minister said the Federal Ministry of Education and the National Universities Commission would issue a circular to all vice-chancellors, registrars, and governing councils in this regard.
He also noted that convocation programmes would be monitored for compliance with the Keffi Declaration, and the government would collaborate with the media to discourage improper attribution of academic titles to honorary recipients.
The ministry will also publish an annual list of legitimate honorary degree recipients to protect the integrity of earned academic qualifications, Alausa said.
He noted that the NUC has the statutory power to enforce the policy.
Alausa said the establishment of the National Research and Innovation Development Fund, with an annual [ $500 ] million, would benefit workers in research and innovation.
He noted that Nigeria has talent in research and innovation, but that it has not been developed due to the neglect of successive administrations.
He commended President Bola Tinubu for taking bold steps to ensure that such a fund was established for the benefit of the nation’s institutions of higher learning.
