Crisis and relief in the Niger Delta (2012–13): assessment of the effects of a flood on relational capabilities

In September 2012, the Niger Delta (Nigeria) experienced a severe flood. By conducting a differences-in-differences estimation (as well as qualitative interviews), this paper studies the effects of the flood and of relief aid provided by an oil company on relational capability, a concept which covers bonding, bridging, and linking aspects of social capital (SC). We find that the flood increased bonding SC, measured as trust in the community, but reduced bridging SC, measured as participation together with unknown people in common-interest projects. The aid distributed to some people, on the other hand, was associated with higher bridging SC. The aid was not distributed according to flood damages but mostly according to social status. Our findings emphasize how a disaster can affect the repartition of bonding and bridging SC in the short term. They also highlight the need to build social cohesion in vulnerable communities from a longer-term and institutional perspective.