“Good morning, you are talking to professor, doctor, architect, engineer, psychologist, lawyer Dan Fodio. Who's on the line?" "I'm professor emeritus, doctor, pharmacist, senior pastor, apostle, lawyer, gentleman, judge, chief justice, engineer, agricultural officer, veterinary surgeon... Hello, are you still there...? Welcome to Africa. Tell me your titles, I will tell you the degree of respect accorded you. In recent times, the indiscriminate use of academic qualifications by unqualified people has reached an alarming peak. The situation is so deplorable that many educated individuals have rather decided not to use their qualifications for fear of being stigmatized or misclassified into the same group as their uneducated colleagues, who recklessly and with impunity use undeserved academic qualifications to promote their own image and own status. Surely, the rampant use of these titles by unqualified individuals is a serious slap in the face of academics, as well as a mockery to educated professionals, who have spent difficult years pursuing academic jobs. The blatant misuse of academic qualifications has become a subject of intense debate. discussion in many African countries. Recently, many academic professionals have expressed their disapproval of this irresponsible act and have suggested that perpetrators should be criminalized for acting to the detriment of others. According to the Executive Secretary of the Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA), Dr Mayunga Nkunya, East African countries are developing a higher education policy through which legislation will eventually be drafted to criminalize those who misuse qualifications academics. The IUCEA will effectively harmonize the quality of education and training in East African states and introduce reforms to promote cons...... middle of paper ......and non-albinos; Have you considered the danger posed by those false holders of academic degrees, who effectively destroy the lives of others through incorrect and harmful diagnoses? Have you forgotten those collapsed buildings, built by fake engineers? Did they take many lives? “It often starts with: call me doctor or engineer. Then follows I can do this or that in the name of trying to defend the academic qualifications that have been awarded. It is a latent, slow but dangerous disease, which, if not treated completely and quickly, can lead to the lethal destruction of the social fabric." Mr Clifford Nebuwa, a lawyer by profession, told our reporter. Related story please: http://www.rnw.nl/africa/article/quail-eggs-africa-quack-or-quick The above story is a parody. It is entirely fictitious; therefore none of the characters mentioned in the story are real.