The Director-General of the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, Adewale Oyerinde, has said that the private sector remains Nigeria’s largest employer of labour, driven by the vast number of jobs created not only within companies but also along their value chains.

Speaking in an interview on Channels Television on Tuesday, Oyerinde challenged the view that the government employs more Nigerians, stressing that private businesses sustain both direct and indirect employment on a much larger scale.

“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 the scale of employment created by businesses goes beyond direct staff numbers to include value chain jobs. Using a manufacturing company that employs 50,000 workers as an example, he said closure of such a business would not only send those 50,000 workers home but also affect 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 stressed that the Nigerian private sector has continued to shoulder the burden of job creation despite challenges that have forced several companies to close or relocate in the past decade.

NECA, established in 1957, serves as the umbrella body of employers in the organised private sector and is often regarded as the voice of business in Nigeria. Oyerinde was appointed Director-General of the organisation in 2022.

The Bureau of Public Service Reforms reported in 2022 that the Federal Government employs about 720,000 civil servants, a figure established after reforms to eliminate ghost workers through the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System.

At the state level, Lagos alone accounts for an estimated 120,000 civil servants, while other states and local governments add substantially to the public workforce, though a consolidated national figure remains unavailable.