Staff training and development are based on the premise that skills of employees need to be improved for organisations to grow. Hence, Federal Polytechnics in Nigeria have over time engaged in the training and development of their lecturers in order to enhance productivity and job performance. Therefore this study investigated the impact of staff development programmes on the job performance of lecturers in Federal Polytechnics. The study sought to determine the impact of higher education programmes and Information Communication Technology(ICT) on the job performance of lecturers, examine the impact of seminars and workshops, conferences, orientation and mentoring programmes on their job performance, ascertain the impact of Federal Polytechnics' management support for enhancing staff development, find out the impact of lecturers' attitude towards attendance and participation in conferences and to find out the impact of organisational issues that constrain lecturers' training and development in the Polytechnics. Nine research questions and nine hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. The target population was 6028 which included all the management staff, heads of departments and lecturers in the 19 Federal polytechnics. A total of 807 respondents were selected using a two- stage sampling method. Eight hundred and two sample members responded by filling and returning the copies of the questionnaire drawn from six Federal Polytechnics, one each from the six geo-political zones of Nigeria. The sample was selected using the stratified random sampling technique. Data was collected by the use of a structured questionnaire and was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS Version 20). Descriptive Statistics such as frequencies, percentages and the Mean were used to analyse and present the data. The Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) Statistics was also used to test the research hypotheses and they were rejected at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of this study revealed that, orientation and mentoring have no significant impact on the job performance of lecturers. Participation in seminars and workshops, conferences, higher education and ICT programmes have several positive effects on the job performance of lecturers in the Federal Polytechnics, including: gaining of new knowledge and skills that enable them perform their tasks better with job satisfaction and motivation. It was however found that the management of the polytechnics did not adequately support staff development. The attitude of lecturers towards attendance and participation in conferences was positive and there were organisational issues that constrain staff development in Federal Polytechnics. In conclusion, staff development programmes have significant impact on the job performance of lecturers and should be encouraged. Based on the findings recommendations were made which among others include; training of staff should be made regular, planned and continuous, orientation for new staff should be made compulsory and well-structured by the school management, formal mentoring programmes should be introduced and the informal mentoring encouraged by Polytechnic management in order to adequately tutor new academic staff on their responsibilities. A suggestion for further studies is the study of the impact of staff development programmes on the job performance of non-teaching staff in Federal polytechnics of Nigeria.