The study examined the extent to which foreign direct investment through oil export influence employment and hence economic growth in Nigeria. Although it has been difficult to ascertain why oil rich countries similar to Nigeria have benefitted from FDI in oil sector in the area of employment creation but Nigeria has not been able to efficiently benefit from adequately in this regards, it is on this premise that the work offers a practical means of addressing the phenomenon. The study covers the period 1970 -2022, the study is descriptive and quantitative in nature using statistical tools, trends, the Structural Vector Autoregression (SVAR), among other econometric models.  The findings of the study showed a relationship among gross domestic Product, Foreign direct investment, oil exports, index of openness, employment and oil price. Finding showed that the lag value of gross domestic product has a positive but a statistically insignificant effect on economic growth in Nigeria. Oil exports have a positive and statistically significant impact on economic growth in Nigeria in the short-run. The analysis implies that a 1% increase in oil exports will lead to a 0.18% increase in economic growth in the economy. The paper concluded by recommended that Pragmatic mechanisms should be put in place to properly channel domestic technology ,improve on local technology and co-engage foreign and local technology for on the job training among others