The Federal Government has approved new guidelines for the award and use of honorary doctorate degrees in Nigerian universities.
The reform’s aim is to curb commercialisation of the award, which is impairing the reputable of the country’s academic system.
Director of Press and Public Relations at the Federal Ministry of Education, Folasade Boriowo announced the policy via a statement on Wednesday saying the policy has the endorsement of the Federal Executive Council and was developed by the National Universities Commission (NUC).
According to the statement, citing the Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Alausa, the reform became necessary in order to restore credibility and ensure that honorary academic awards retain their symbolic and scholarly value.
Under the new rules, only universities that have successfully graduated their first set of PhD candidates will be eligible to confer honorary doctorates.
It also restricts institutions to a maximum of three honorary awards per convocation ceremony, a move designed to discourage indiscriminate awarding.
The guidelines mandate all honorary doctorates to be clearly designated as “Honoris Causa” while recipients are barred from adopting or using the title “Dr” solely on the basis of such awards.
“Universities are required to publish recipients’ names, provide orientation to awardees, and implement revocation procedures where necessary,” the statement read partly.
