ABSTRACT

The study examined the impact of dividend policy on performance of petroleum industry in Nigeria form 2000 to 2017. The study were conducted in Total Nigeria Pic and Mobil Nigeria Plc.The specific objectives were to investigate the impact of dividend payout ratio on return on equity of selected petroleum firms in Nigeria, to investigate the impact of dividend yield on return on equity ofselected petroleum firms in Nigeria and to investigate the impact of dividend-to-total assets ratio on return on equity of selected petroleum firms in Nigeria. The adopted ex-postfacto research design. The secondary data was used for the study and the data was sourced from financial statement of Total Nigeria Pic and Mobil Nigeria Pic. The data was analyzed with multiple regression analysis. The result of the study revealed that dividend payout ratio has positive and significant impact on return on equity of selected petroleum firms in Nigeria, dividend yield has positive and significant impact on return on equity of selected petroleum firms in Nigeria and dividend-to-total assets ratio has positive and significant impact on return on equity of selected petroleum firms in Nigeria. It was recommended that management ofthe study companies should effectively appropriate fund available to them and manage it in such a way that more profit can be generate which will in turn lead to increase in the shareholders’ dividend.