The quality of students who graduated from Nigerian universities and the role played by universities in the growth of society is a significant concern to every stakeholder. This study examined the impact of distributed leadership on the effectiveness of public universities and the mediating role of the quality administrative process. A correlational survey research design was adopted. A total of 450 lecturers were sampled and were given questionnaire of which 346 questionnaire were returned and, only 305 questionnaires were usable after the data cleaning. The results of the analysis showed that distributed leadership does not directly connect to institutional effectiveness. Furthermore, it is evident that administrative process intervenes in the correlation between distributed leadership and public university effectiveness. The findings imply that the various leaders at the unit level, departmental, faculty, and university-wide must ensure quality administrative processes to bring about the desired University system in the country.