Titles carry weight in every society. They are markers of recognition, symbols of achievement, and sometimes, tokens of vanity. In Nigeria, however, the fascination with titles has too often tipped into obsession. From chieftaincy honours to national awards and now the proliferation of honorary doctorates, the hustle for recognition has become a cultural industry in itself. These titles are not the problem – societies across the world confer distinctions to honour individuals who have contributed meaningfully to the common good. The danger however arises when they are used carelessly, bestowed for political favour or financial gain, and allowed to substitute for the steady, rigorous path of scholarship. When that happens, it ceases to be an honour and begins to corrode the very institution meant to bestow it.
The academic doctorate is regarded as the pinnacle of intellectual pursuit and the result of years of discipline, research, and defence of original knowledge. It is not a certificate of attendance but of perseverance and contribution. The honorary doctorate by contrast was designed as a symbolic gesture, celebrating those who outside academia, have made exceptional contributions to the society. Yet in practice, Nigerian universities have blurred this line so much that many recipients now casually adopt the “Dr.” prefix, erasing the word “honorary” altogether. This create a deception that confuses the public and diminishes the honour itself.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has repeatedly warned against the politicisation and proliferation of honorary degrees. Universities, under subtle pressure from political actors, often confer degrees on sitting governors, ministers, and other officials who still control budgets or appointments. In 2012, the Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities issued the ‘Keffi Declaration’ to curb excesses. It insisted that no university without doctoral programmes should confer honorary doctorates, that no more than three such awards should be granted annually, and that serving public officials should be excluded. Crucially, it emphasised that recipients should never style themselves “Dr.” Yet more than a decade later, these safeguards are routinely ignored.
The consequences extend beyond the academia. When honorary awards are treated as equivalent to academic doctorates, they create a false equivalence between scholarship and symbolism. They also feed into Nigeria’s broader appetite for status inflation, where credentials, whether earned or bought, are prized more for appearances than substance. The rise of degree mills offering “honorary” titles for a fee illustrates this danger. At its worst, the practice resembles vanity shopping, where prestige is purchased rather than earned. This erosion has now blurred the line between genuine scholarship and symbolic recognition, complicating the fight against academic fraud. A recent controversy, in which a senior government figure was named “professor” by a federal university merely for constructing buildings, shows how transactional the process can become. In a country already battling fake certificates, with some imported from neighbouring states like Benin Republic, such excess only makes it harder to distinguish legitimate academic achievement from purchased prestige. This casts a shadow over Nigerian universities themselves, eroding trust in their awards and leaving society unsure of what, or who, to believe.
With over 270 universities in Nigeria, the sheer rate of conferment has become alarming. Even if each university awarded just two honorary doctorates per year, the nation would be producing more than 500 new honorary “Doctors” annually. What should be an exclusive honour reserved for individuals of extraordinary, society-shaping contributions risks being watered down into a routine convocation ritual.
To restore integrity, the first step is clarity. Universities must consistently state during conferment, in press releases, and in graduation booklets that an honorary degree does not entitle the recipient to the “Dr.” title. The honour lies in recognition, not appropriation. Secondly, the award must be rare and anchored in merit. Recipients should be those whose contributions are both exceptional and enduring, whose work advances society in profound ways. Thirdly, the spirit of the Keffi Declaration must be revived and enforced: serving public officials should not be eligible until their service is complete. Otherwise, the process will always be tainted by suspicion of reward-seeking or political expedience.
Although this problem is more pronounced within the academia, the long for titles have eaten deep into our cultural institutions such that chieftaincy titles are now reserved for those who can afford them. A society that prizes titles over substance will always find ways to inflate status. The responsibility of the academy, then, is not merely to guard its symbols but to reassert its values: rigour, merit, integrity, and truth. Nigeria cannot afford an academy that plays to the gallery of politics or vanity. It must stand apart as a beacon of excellence and critical thought.
Honorary doctorates, when conferred with integrity, are noble markers of gratitude. They remind us that knowledge serves the public good and that contributions beyond the classroom also deserve honour. But when abused, they risk becoming trinkets of self-display. The challenge before Nigerian universities is simple but urgent: to resist pressure, restore credibility, and remind society that recognition without rigour is not honour at all.
