To address the need for more answers regarding effects of dividend payout on firm performance of quoted oil and gas companies in Nigeria, this study set out to ascertain the effect of Dividend Payout Ratio (DPR) on Net Profit Margin of quoted oil and gas companies, to determine the effect of Dividend Payout Ratio (DPR) on the Return of Asset (ROA) of quoted oil and gas companies as well as to identify the effect of Dividend Payout Ratio (DPR) on the Return on Equity (ROE) of quoted oil and gas companies. Accordingly, Ratio Analyses (Dividend Payout Ratio and Profitability Ratio) were adopted as analytical tools for deciphering the relationship between variables in the financial statement of two oil and gas firms (Total Plc and Mobil Plc) to identify fundamental trends and relationships that often cannot be noted by individual inspection of components of the ratio. The research made use of secondary data obtained from financial reports of the companies. The study found that Dividend Payout Ratio had a negative and insignificant effect on firm performance of Mobil Plc and Total Plc in 2017 and 2018, while the results showed significant effect in 2015 and 2016 for Total Plc, and significant effect for Mobil Plc in 2015 but insignificant effect in 2016. Inclusively, the study concluded that payment of dividend and the payout ratio conveys to shareholders that the companies are profitable and financially strong and recommended that managers: devote time to as well as design dividend policies that will enhance financial performance and shareholders' value; and reduce company total debts to increase financial performance of firms and shareholder value.

Introduction Effective distribution of economic resources remains a serious challenge to both rich and poor nations. This implies that no matter the number of economic resources a country has, if it is not properly distributed, it will exclude some to some extent and perhaps favors others to a large extent, thereby introducing an imbalance, serious inequality or inequity that might be temporary or permanent (Hariston, 2018). It is perhaps needless to argue that although, Nigeria is an oil-rich country, and however, the availability of petroleum products always fluctuates from time to time. The popular paradox surrounding such state of affairs revolves around the questions of whether or not it is the upstream sector that is responsible or downstream sector. Knowing that the upstream sector deals with the extraction of crude oil from its sources and that the midstream sector is responsible for refining crude oil while the downstream sector deals with the distribution of refined petroleum products (gasoline, petrol, and kerosene); the problem of availability of such products in sufficient quantity may be as a result of poor distribution pattern. If that is the case, then the credit goes directly to the downstream sector. According to the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) (Eboh, 2013) Nigeria is African largest oil-producing country and the fifth supplier to the United States as well as the sixth largest oil exporter, with a total of 173 oil blocks in operation. Nigeria is being identified among the 12 biggest oil producers in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, (OPEC), contributing about 1.535 million barrels per day (bpd) to the OPEC basket. Nigeria had recorded crude oil reserves of 37.5 billion barrels, natural gas reserves of 5.154 million cubic meters, securing eighth position in the world gas reserves and first in Africa (OPEC's Annual Statistical Bulletin, 2018). Yet unexpectedly the country depends on fuel importation to meet up domestic demands of petroleum products. Since 1958 before Nigeria gotten its political and economic independence from British, since crude oil production and exportation started in Nigeria. It accounted for 7.1 percent of total exports in 1961, which was dominated at that time by cocoa, groundnut, rubber and palm oil, in that order. In 1965, oil constituted 13.5 percent of the nation's export earnings,