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Six months after DUBAWA published a story addressing the misuse of honorary doctorate titles in Nigeria, the National Universities Commission (NUC) has issued formal guidelines regulating the award and its usage.
In August 2025, DUBAWA investigated how Nigerian public figures freely used the “Dr.” title on social media after receiving honorary awards. The report questioned whether Nigerian laws allowed recipients of honorary doctorates to use the “Dr.” prefix. But at the time, DUBAWA found that there was no clear legal provision in Nigeria prohibiting the practice.
Education experts interviewed said treating honorary doctorates as equivalent to earned PhDs could fuel misinformation and weaken academic standards. Efforts to get the NUC’s official position were unsuccessful, so DUBAWA later submitted a formal letter to the Commission at its headquarters in Abuja.
NUC responds to honorary doctorate misuse
On Feb. 26, 2026, the NUC released a public notice (archived here) on its official X handle.
The commission stated that it had observed “with grave concern, the increasing incidence of indiscriminate conferment and misuse of Honorary Doctorate Degrees within the Nigerian University System.”
According to the newly approved guidelines, recipients of honorary doctorate degrees are not permitted to use the prefix “Dr.” The Commission noted that the title is reserved for holders of earned academic doctorates and medical professionals.
The guidelines also set conditions for universities that wish to confer honorary doctorate degrees. It stated that only approved universities that have graduated at least one set of PhD students are eligible to award honorary doctorates. Also, no institution is permitted to confer more than three such degrees at a single convocation ceremony.
It further stated that self-nominated candidates and serving public officials are excluded from consideration. The Commission also made it clear that honorary doctorate degrees must be conferred strictly as distinctions, without any fee, donation, or financial expectation attached.
The NUC has also directed tertiary institutions to provide written and verbal orientation to recipients on how to use the award. It also asked them to provide “a formal mechanism to rescind awards” if recipients engage in any unethical conduct.
The NUC warned that regulatory sanctions would be imposed on institutions that violate the guidelines, as well as on individuals who misuse honorary titles.
