"Motivation and Attitude to work: Academic Staff of Universities perceptions was carried out using the public universities in Edo and Delta states of Nigeria. Five factors were conceptualized as motivation, namely; university autonomy, Academic Freedom, material resources, payment of remuneration and promotion prospects. In order to guide the study, five hypotheses were formulated. The study adopted a correlational research design, academic staff of universities as at 2012/2013 session were the population used which amounted to 2,793, sample size was 25% (698), Questionnaire was used to collect data, content validity by experts, reliability values for motivation factors by average was 0.77 while attitude to work was 0.79. 681 questionnaires were retrieved from field, analyzed using the Pearson product moment correlation coefficient (r), the findings were that: motivation was significantly related to Attitude to work and academic staff attitude to work in the universities in Edo and Delta states was negative. Recommendations were made based on these findings. This study is an eye-opener and recommended for employers and employees especially those in the Education industry.