Egenti StanleyDinbabo Mulugeta2026-06-172026-06-172025University Of the Western Capehttps://hdl.handle.net/10566/24511This study investigates the spatial and gender dynamics of food insecurity in Nigeria, a country besieged by rising inequality and climatic vulnerabilities. The thesis estimates and analyses how climate-related risk differentials influences both genders, especially women with particular interest on land ownership, adaptive capacity, and geographical exposure. Based on Amartya Sen’s entitlement theory, feminist political economy, spatial inequality and the institutionalist approach, the study constructs a gender-disaggregated multidimensional index known as the Spatial Vulnerability Index of Food Security (FSV) for evaluating the risk of food insecurity. The study employs the 2018 Nigerian General Household Survey (GHS) and combines both descriptive and inferential spatial econometric methods of Spatial Autoregressive Model (SAR), Spatial Error Model (SEM), Spatial Durbin Model (SDM) and Heckman Two-Step Selection Model to investigate spatial interdependencies and spillover effects among neighbouring regions. To understand the trend in distribution of gendered food insecurity, both spatial weight matrices and Moran’s I statistics were employed. The results demonstrate strong evidence of spatial autocorrelation in food insecurity, with the female-headed households being more vulnerable, especially in the southern region (South East, South South and South West) compared to the reference zone (North Central) as climatic exposure and high dependency ratio contributed significantly. Land ownership is revealed as an important protective factor, despite the study’s unambiguous illustrations of structural constraints faced by women due to legal ambiguities, culture restrictions, and discriminatory inheritance practices. In addition, the spatial models highlighted strong spillover effects, implying that vulnerability in a given region increases the probability of food insecurity in neighbouring regions. One of the key insights from the study is that climate-induced food insecurity is both gendered and spatially contagious. The study further shows a surprising result with receipt of remittances increases the probability of coping strategies adoption while contributing to food insecurity among female-headed households by crowding-out the incentive for productive employment. The study contributed in two major ways to development economics through provision of reliable spatial analysis that blend gendered vulnerability metrics with climate adaptation framework. In addition, the use of vulnerability mapping and spatial interactive modelling reveal geographic heterogeneities in food insecurity. As a result, it recommends adoption of gender-transformative policies such as gender-sensitive land and institutional reforms, improve climate finance policies and promotion of disaggregated data collection for effective response coordination. The study concluded by confirming that both gender equality and food security are interdependent goals that require spatially-specific, equity-sensitive, and climate-resilient development framework to achieve them.enFood securityGenderClimate changeSpatial analysesInequalityNigeriaThesis