The Nigerian government has introduced a strict new policy to regulate the award of honorary doctorates, banning recipients from using the title “Doctor” in a bid to stop the “commercialisation” of academic honours.
The crackdown, approved by the Federal Executive Council, follows growing concern over Nigerian universities handing out prestigious awards to wealthy individuals and politicians, often in exchange for financial donations.
Under the new guidelines, developed by the National Universities Commission (NUC), universities will be strictly limited to awarding a maximum of three honorary degrees per graduation ceremony.
Furthermore, only established universities that have successfully graduated their first cohort of academic PhD students will be allowed to confer the honours.
The Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Alausa, said the rules were necessary to restore credibility to the higher education system.
“The guidelines were introduced to strengthen academic integrity, transparency, and the credibility of the university system,” a ministry statement said.
To prevent recipients from passing themselves off as academic scholars, the government has ruled that all certificates must explicitly carry the designation “Honoris Causa”. The ministry added that recipients are strictly prohibited from using the title “Dr” based solely on the honorary award.
Universities will now be legally required to publicly publish the names of all recipients and establish clear legal procedures to revoke the awards if an individual brings the institution into disrepute.
A new dedicated monitoring unit has been set up to police the sector. The government warned that any institution violating the rules faces severe sanctions, including the suspension of its course accreditations or the outright dissolution of its governing university council.
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