The Federal Government has issued a stern warning to universities over the rising misuse of honorary doctorate degrees, cautioning institutions against conferring such honours on serving political officeholders.
The directive was announced in Abuja on Friday by the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Abdullahi Ribadu, during the presentation of the report of the Committee on the Misuse of Honorary Doctorate Degrees by Recipients in Nigeria.
Ribadu disclosed that the commission had uncovered cases where individuals paid up to N50 million to obtain honorary degrees from certain institutions. He stressed that the practice undermines the integrity of Nigeria’s higher education system and devalues legitimate academic achievements.
The NUC, he said, is taking steps to restore sanity to the sector and ensure that honorary degrees are awarded strictly on merit and in line with globally accepted standards.
