This exploratory study examines the relationship between leadership styles, school governance systems, and student performance in government-owned schools across Nigeria. It employed a mixed-methods design to collect data from 654 respondents, including school principals, teachers, and officials within the education sector in six Nigerian states, from February to November 2024. Structural equation modelling demonstrated that transformational leadership exerts a statistically significant positive effect on student achievement (β = 0.67, p < 0.001), while distributed leadership attenuates the association between governance quality and teacher effectiveness (β = 0.45, p < 0.001). The results reveal very poor rates of learning, with only 34.2% of learners demonstrating the minimum proficiency levels in literacy and 28.7% reaching commensurate levels in numeracy. Schools with strong transformational leadership had an achievement rate 43 per cent higher than those with poor leadership. Mean governance scores were (2.8 out of 5.0) which demonstrated strong barriers to systems. Urban schools recorded a superior governance score (M = 3.4) compared with rural schools (M = 2.1). The findings, as a whole, indicate that good governance and leadership are perfect mediators between resource distribution and education achievement. The study provides evidence-based recommendations for educational reform and explains how interventions related to leadership can bring a solution to the learning crisis observed in Nigeria.