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Are the urban and rural male-headed households (MHHs) or female-headed households (FHHs) poorer and food (in)secured? Such question is of very important policy concern in the drive towards achieving the first two of the Sustainable Development Goals.

This paper uses 2010–2012 waves of General Household Survey cross-sectional panel data to investigate food (in)security and poverty dynamics amongst MHHs and FHHs in Nigeria, with particular attention to rural and urban dimensions.

Applying the tobit and probit regressions while controlling for poverty and other household characteristics, we observed that female-headed families are more vulnerable to higher incidences of food insecurity than male-headed ones and with an overall significant urban food security advantage compared to rural areas. Comparing urban and rural results in terms of land access rights, urban food insecurity manifests more amongst urban FHHs non–Agri-land owners which however falls as food expenditure rises. However, the rise in per capita food consumption, agricultural characteristics and years of schooling reduces the likelihood of food insecurity for all households.

This study, therefore, offers relevant policy inputs towards addressing poverty and food insecurity in a typical developing country such as Nigeria.