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Executive Secretary of the NUC, Professor Abdullahi Yusufu Ribadu, disclosed this on Friday in Abuja while receiving the report of a committee set up to investigate the award and public misuse of honorary degrees in Nigeria.

Ribadu said the Commission was forced to take action following disturbing findings from a nationwide probe into how honorary degrees are conferred and used.

“These degrees are meant to recognise outstanding service or achievements, but unfortunately, they have increasingly been misused,” he said.

He noted that the problem has been compounded by the proliferation of unaccredited and illegal institutions—both local and foreign—operating as “honorary degree mills.”

According to Ribadu, the investigation revealed widespread violations of the Keffi Declaration of 2012, an agreement among Nigerian Vice-Chancellors regulating the award of honorary degrees. The declaration expressly prohibits universities from conferring honorary doctorates on serving public officials and warns recipients against adopting the title “Dr” without proper clarification.

“This is not just a matter of ethics; it is a matter of law,” the NUC boss stressed. “Using the title ‘Dr’ based on an honorary degree without clarification amounts to false representation, which is punishable under various fraud-related laws in Nigeria.”

Ribadu warned that the misuse of honorary titles erodes the integrity of universities and undermines public trust in genuine academic qualifications.

The committee’s report identified 32 entities operating as honorary degree mills in Nigeria. These include 10 unaccredited foreign universities, four unlicensed local universities, 15 professional bodies without degree-awarding powers, and three other non-degree-awarding institutions. Some of these organisations, the NUC revealed, even confer fake professorships.

“Let us be clear: awarding honorary degrees is a legal responsibility of Nigerian universities,” Ribadu said. “The law empowers the NUC to regulate both the award and use of honorary doctorate degrees in Nigeria.”

He reiterated that only approved public or private universities are authorised to award honorary doctorate degrees, and even then, recipients must use the appropriate nomenclature—such as Doctor of Literature (Honoris Causa)—rather than adopting the title “Dr,” which is reserved for holders of earned doctorates and medical professionals.