The National Universities Commission (NUC) has issued a sweeping prohibition on the conferment of honorary doctorate degrees on serving public officials, as part of a broad crackdown on what it describes as the rampant abuse and commercialization of such titles across the country.
NUC Executive Secretary, Prof. Abdullahi Yusufu Ribadu, announced the decision on Friday in Abuja while receiving the findings of a special investigative committee set up to probe irregularities in the award of honorary degrees nationwide.
According to the report, investigators uncovered a network of 32 entities operating as “honorary degree mills,” distributing dubious academic titles without legitimacy or legal authority. The flagged bodies include 10 unaccredited foreign universities, four unlicensed local institutions, 15 professional associations lacking the mandate to confer degrees, and three non-academic organisations. Some were also implicated in issuing fake professorships.
Prof. Ribadu described the situation as alarming, warning that honorary doctorates—designed to acknowledge exceptional contributions to society—have been increasingly misused.
“The proliferation of unaccredited institutions offering fraudulent degrees is deeply troubling,” he said. “These honours are meant to celebrate remarkable achievement, not to provide cover for false representation.”
He noted that many of the violations run contrary to the Keffi Declaration of 2012, which bars universities from granting honorary doctorates to serving public officials and cautions recipients against adopting the title “Dr” based solely on honorary recognition.
“This is not only unethical — it is illegal,” Ribadu emphasised. “Using the title ‘Dr’ on the basis of an honorary degree constitutes false representation and is punishable under Nigerian fraud laws.”
The NUC reaffirmed that only accredited universities have the authority to award honorary doctorate degrees, and even recipients must use the proper honorary designation — such as D.Litt. (h.c.) or Doctor of Literature (Honoris Causa) — rather than the formal academic title “Dr.” Holders of honorary doctorates are also barred from performing academic duties such as supervising research or heading university programmes.
Ribadu warned that misuse of these titles threatens the credibility of legitimate academic qualifications and erodes public trust in Nigeria’s higher education sector.
“This trend undermines the integrity of our universities and diminishes the hard work of genuine scholars,” he said.
He disclosed that the NUC has drafted a national guideline on the award and use of honorary degrees, which will be published soon. The Commission will also work with law-enforcement agencies to clamp down on illegal degree-awarding bodies.
Calling for collective vigilance, Ribadu appealed to stakeholders and the public to help preserve the dignity of academic honours:
“Let us restore honour to our honorary degrees and protect the credibility of academic achievement in Nigeria.”