KEY POINTS

• NUC introduced strict nationwide rules to curb abuse of honorary doctorate awards.

• Only qualified universities can confer them, with limits and strict screening.

• Recipients cannot use honorary degrees as real academic titles or professional credentials.

The National Universities Commission, NUC, has introduced new nationwide guidelines to regulate how honorary doctorate degrees are awarded and used, saying it is concerned about growing abuse and indiscriminate conferment of such titles across Nigeria’s university system and noting that the directive is backed by its legal authority under the Education Act governing minimum standards and institutional establishment.

The NUC said investigations uncovered widespread irregularities after reviewing 61 institutions and professional bodies, with 32 identified as operating as honorary degree mills including unaccredited foreign universities, unlicensed local institutions, and professional associations lacking authority to issue degrees, some of which were also found to be awarding fake professorship titles.

New eligibility and award limits

Under the new framework, only approved universities that have graduated at least one set of PhD students can confer honorary doctorates, each institution is limited to three awards per convocation, nominees must pass through statutory screening committees and secure senate and governing council approval, and self-nominated candidates as well as serving public officials are disqualified from consideration.

The NUC clarified that honorary doctorates are symbolic honours and not equivalent to earned academic degrees, stressing that recipients must not adopt the title doctor, cannot use the award to practise professionally or academically, must receive the honour in person except in rare cases, and must be clearly designated with “Honoris Causa” on certificates and official references.

The NUC noted that Universities are now required to publish their selection criteria publicly, ensure diversity across gender, nationality, and discipline, avoid charging fees for honorary awards, keep public records of recipients, and establish procedures for withdrawing honours in cases involving fraud or misconduct, while the executive secretary Abdullahi Ribadu said the guidelines were developed in line with academic traditions and resolutions of the Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities to strengthen transparency and accountability.