By Muhammed Abubakar, Reporting
THE Federal Government of Nigeria has officially banned the use of the title “Dr” by individuals who hold only honorary doctorates, declaring that the practice has become riddled with abuse and political patronage.
The announcement was made on Wednesday by the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, following a meeting of the Federal Executive Council at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Briefing State House correspondents, Alausa said the growing trend of conferring honorary degrees had deviated from established academic ethics.
“The recent trend we’ve seen with the award of honorary degrees has revealed a growing abuse and politicisation of this academic privilege,” he said.
He added that such awards had increasingly been used “for political patronage, for financial gain, as well as the conferral of awards on serving public officials, which, as part of the ethics of honorary degree awards, should not happen.”
Under the new directive, anyone who receives an honorary degree will no longer be permitted to use “Dr” as a prefix before their name in official, academic, or professional contexts. Instead, they must clearly state the full honorary designation after their name.
The minister confirmed that only academic and medical doctors would henceforth be allowed to use the “Dr” prefix.
The ban takes immediate effect across all official and public platforms.
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