Historically, lawyers in most European countries were addressed with the title of doctor, and countries outside Europe have generally followed the practice of the European country which had policy influence through modernization or colonialization.
The first university degrees, starting with the law school of the University of Bologna (or glossators) in the 11th century, were law degrees and doctorates. Degrees in other fields were not granted until the 13th century, but the doctorate continued to be the only degree offered at many of the old universities up until the 20th century. As a result, in many of the southern European countries, including Portugal, Spain and Italy, lawyers have traditionally been addressed as “doctor,”(as well as Macau in China).

Additionally, the doctor’s title was not known to be a title for medical practitioner, until in 1703, when the “University of Glasgow’s first medical graduate, Samuel Benion, was issued with the “Academic degree” of Doctor of Medicine. That marked the beginning of medical practitioners using the Doctor’s title.
In recent time however, laymen had associated the doctor’s title only to medical practitioners. Apart from laymen, some doctors even feel it is unworthy for none medical practitioners to use the title. Reports of medical doctors feeling dismayed that there are so many academics these days who insist upon being addressed as “doctor,” when that title properly belongs to physicians abound. These medical practitioners do not know that from Roman times through the middle Ages until well into the 18th century, the honorific doctor applied only to eminent scholars – e.g., the Four Doctors of the Western Church in the 5th and 6th centuries (Saints Ambrose, Augustine of Hippo, Jerome, and Gregory).

History has it that, jealous of the respect shown to scholars by the title doctor, medical schools in the 18th century (particularly Edinburgh in Scotland) began the practice of addressing their graduates as “doctor.” The schools argued that since their graduates generally earned bachelor’s degrees before admission to medical studies, they were entitled to the honorific in the same manner as university scholars. In one of life’s great ironies, many uninformed laymen now perceive the medical degree to be more prestigious than the PhD, declaring that people who have earned the latter are “not real doctors.

“Doctor” signifies that an individual has not only gained enough competencies to practice in a teaching field, but has developed enough expertise to instruct others. Incidentally, most UK surgeons drop their title of “Dr” and revert to “Mr” after joining the Royal College of Surgeons. I’ve read through an online medium of at least one surgeon who reacted quite angrily at being addressed as a mere “Dr”, which in such circles, due to a collision between traditional titles and modern medical training, could be unkindly translated as “trainee”.

Additionally, the confusion in the use of Doctor’s title is not only in Nigeria, it existed all over the world. In France for example, only medical practitioners can use the Doctor’s title. The mention of Doctor for none medical PhD holders is forbidden, especially in hospitals –even when the type of doctorate is precisely stated. More shocking is the fact that, in some health departments or hospitals in France, PhD holders are not authorized to sign/co-author any article, even if they did all the work and wrote the manuscript; they are mostly retained as ghost writers, whose intellectual work goes to others. But in Poland, doctor is a common degree of education. It is not reserved for medicine.

By convention in most countries, recipients of honorary doctorates do not use the title “Dr” in general correspondence, although in formal correspondence from the university issuing the honorary degree it is normal to address the recipient by the title.

However, this social convention, especially in Nigeria, is not always scrupulously observed; notable people often defy social convention and use the honorary prefix.

Furthermore, It has also been argued that, using the title “Dr.” based on an honorary doctorate is unethical, but this is prevalent in Nigeria. But let me state that Doctor’s title isn’t an honorary title; it’s an earned title; an academic degree after much efforts and rigor. It is a title for scholars or teachers, who have acquired enough competence to pass down knowledge.

However, others have equally argued that, whatever one thinks of the merits of an Honorary doctorate, it is not something “claimed” but rather something “awarded” for good reasons or bad.

Finally, let me emphasize that, neither MD’s nor PhD’s are the original “Doctors”, but Doctor of Divinity (DD’s). But since Pope granted the right of usage to the University, the right of usage has been transferred to educators, particularly the holders of PhD, which is the highest academic qualification for teachers. For this reason, I believe only PhD holders should use the Dr’s title to put an end to the confusion once and for all.

Concluded

Abdulrazaq O Hamzat, Executive Director at Foundation For Peace Professionals, Abuja.