The study investigates the relationship between motivation and performance of academic staff in state owned tertiary institutions in Sokoto state. It employed survey research design and with a population of 1,371 academic staff. Using a combination of purposive, stratified and proportionate sampling techniques, the study selected 290 out of 1,371 academic staff with the aid of Yamen’s formula of determining sample size. The study used questionnaire as a major instrument for collecting relevant data. The data collected were analyzed using Pearson product moment correlation coefficient. Based on the data analysis it was found that there is a positive relationship between recognitions and career advancement of academic staff and performance. The study recommended that the management of the state-owned tertiary institutions needs to intensify efforts in recognizing and advancing the works of academic staff and this will help them to compete with their colleagues around the world. Also, the management of state institutions should give recognition for excellent work performance of academic staff by giving reward in terms of regular promotion which will go a long way in enhancing performance of academic staff on the job and motivate others to join the institutions. It also suggested that there is need to conduct a research on the same topic using the same methodologies and instruments in state owned tertiary institutions in another Geo-political zone in Nigeria and this will confirm or reject the findings of this present study.