Many financial and non-financial firms in Nigeria have failed in the last two decades as a result of poor corporate governance. These corporate failures, combined with falling educational standards in most African countries, particularly Nigeria, sparked increased interest in corporate governance research in the country. This study examined the influence of corporate governance on the performance of public institutions in Osun State, Nigeria (OSN). The objectives were to determine the relationship between corporate financial management on the infrastructural development of public institutions in OSN and to examine the contribution of Human Resources Management (HRM) on the teaching quality of the lecturers in public institutions in OSN. A survey design was adopted for the study, while data collection was done through the administration of a structured questionnaire to a sample size of five hundred fifty (550) respondents. The techniques of sampling used was stratified random. The formulated hypotheses were tested using correlation analysis. The study’s findings revealed a significant relationship between financial management and the infrastructural development of public institutions in OSN, as evidenced by its correlation coefficient of 0.776 and P value of 0.000. It was also found that HRM maintains a strong, positive, and significant relationship with staff teaching and service quality, as evidenced by its 0.774 correlation coefficient and P value of 0.000. The study concluded that Nigerian public institutions, with reference to OSN had to a large extent adopted the concept of corporate governance (financial management and HRM) as a way to survive in the highly competitive academic environment. Therefore, it was recommended that, in order to have an employable graduate who can turn around the economy of the country, the top management should try to manage the government, unions, staff, and other stakeholders of public institutions and ensure cordial relationships between them for effective service delivery of giving the right and quality knowledge to the students who are the leaders of tomorrow.
Keywords: Corporate Governance, Human Resource Management, Public Institutions, financial management, infrastructural development
