article · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
An examination of municipal solid waste management across eight local government areas in Kano Metropolis reveals severe governance and operational challenges. Over half of surveyed residents and business operators experience irregular waste collection or none at all, leading roughly seventy percent of respondents to rely on open dumping, roadside disposal, or burning. All evaluated governance indicators scored below average, with financial capacity and accountability ranking lowest. Together, governance dimensions explain nearly two-thirds of the variance in service performance, driven primarily by operational capacity and accountability. Stronger regulatory enforcement significantly doubles the likelihood of compliant waste disposal. Qualitative evidence highlights severe vehicle deficits, fragmented responsibilities, funding delays, and inadequate complaint handling. Addressing these deficiencies requires stable financing, dedicated route monitoring, integrated information systems, stronger enforcement, and the formal inclusion of informal waste recovery workers in local circular economy initiatives.
Ineffective waste governance causes widespread open burning and dumping, worsening public health risks and environmental contamination in rapidly growing urban centres. Demonstrating that operational capacity, accountability, and active regulatory enforcement directly drive service compliance provides municipal planners and international development funders with a clear evidentiary baseline to direct funding, reform regulatory institutions, and reduce urban pollution.
The findings inform public sector procurement, municipal software developers, and private waste logistics contractors seeking to deploy route-level management tools, integrated complaint platforms, and digital monitoring systems. While the research constitutes diagnostic, early-stage policy and operational analysis rather than a direct commercial product, it identifies market entry points for private waste collection operators and circular-economy enterprises capable of organising and absorbing informal recycling networks into formal municipal service contracts.
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Municipal solid waste management is a critical urban service whose performance depends not only on equipment and disposal infrastructure but also on institutional coordination, operational finance, regulatory enforcement, accountability, and citizen participation. This study examined waste management governance across eight local government areas in Kano Metropolis, Nigeria. A convergent mixed-methods design was used to combine a survey of 423 adult residents and business operators with 23 key-informant interviews, eight focus-group discussions involving 72 participants, structured observations at 64 public waste locations, and a documentary review. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, analysis of variance, correlation, multiple linear regression, and binary logistic regression, whereas qualitative evidence was analyzed thematically and integrated through joint comparison. More than half of the respondents (56.2%) reported no regular collection or collection less than once weekly, and 69.7% relied primarily on open dumping, roadside or drainage disposal, or open burning. All governance dimensions scored below the scale midpoint; financial capacity (M = 2.15) and accountability (M = 2.17) were rated weakest. The governance variables jointly explained 64.4% of the variance in service effectiveness, with operational capacity being the strongest predictor (beta = .268), followed by accountability (beta = .195). Regulatory enforcement doubled the odds of appropriate disposal (odds ratio [OR] = 2.06, 95% confidence interval [CI] [1.34, 3.15]), while collection frequency also improved compliance. Qualitative and observational findings confirmed vehicle shortages, delayed funding, fragmented mandates, weak data and complaint systems, and limited integration of informal waste workers. Sustainable reform requires predictable operating finance, route-level performance management, integrated data and complaint systems, proportionate enforcement, community oversight, and phased circular-economy initiatives that incorporate existing informal recovery networks
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DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.21933778
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