The Director-General of the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, Adewale Oyerinde, said the private sector remains Nigeria’s largest employer, creating jobs within companies and across their value chains.

In a Channels Television interview on Tuesday, he challenged the notion that government employs more Nigerians, emphasizing that private businesses drive far greater direct and indirect employment.

“It is an error to think that the government is the biggest employer in Nigeria. “I don’t agree with that,” Oyerinde said. “The private sector remains the bigger employer, and the impact is broader than most people recognise.”

He explained that employment from businesses extends beyond direct staff to value chain jobs. Citing a manufacturing firm with 50,000 employees, he noted that its closure would not only affect those workers but also hundreds of thousands in its supply and distribution networks.

“At the back end, you have suppliers that feed into the production system, and at the front end, you have distributors who rely on those goods to sell. When a factory closes, it’s not just the 50,000 employees that are affected; you could be looking at another 100,000 or 150,000 jobs lost indirectly,” he said.

Oyerinde emphasized that Nigeria’s private sector continues to drive job creation despite challenges that have forced some companies to close or relocate over the past decade.

Established in 1957, NECA serves as the umbrella body for employers in the organised private sector and is widely regarded as the voice of business in Nigeria.