*3.1.2 Local government area*

In all the eight local governments that make up Kano metropolis Municipal, Dala and Gwale Ungogo, Tarauni, Kumbotso, Nassarawa Dawakin Topa, and kudu local government area that make up the study area. Only Nassarawa and Municipal local governments, where the private operators are active, were used to filter and collect the information. According to the constitution, local governments should be in control


*Source: Authors field survey 2021.*

*Efficiency – in this aspect private waste companies/contractors are efficient in most areas where they operate but are costly, and as such the poor citizen may find it not affordable to patronize them. This is because their enlightenment programs are limited in scope, however, all sample staffs under REMASAB believed (100%) that private waste company are very efficient more especially in their of operation, but in terms of reliability (43%), this is very bad, due to the fact that the assessment depends on monthly collection from customers patronizing these companies. Effectiveness – in this aspect private waste companies are again effective, since they are operating based on the objective of having a clean environment that must be achieved in their areas of operation. Even though they have, however, a limited number of equipment and vehicles (infrastructure) especially waste disposal vans and trucks. Reliability – in this aspect the table above shows that they are not very reliable, as any default in the monthly payment by the customers will result in the stopping of the services to such customers. The accessibility aspect is they are accessible as much as these customers are ready to pay for services rendered with regard to SWM, this is the reason the assessment in the table above is 67%, such agreements are said to be recent advances in SWM in the study area.*

#### **Table 2.**

*An assessment of solid waste companies by REMASAB.*

*Challenges of SWM Hierarchy System: The Stakeholders New Saga in Perspectives DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.107123*


#### **Table 3**

*An assessment of solid waste companies by local government area.*

of SWM throughout their jurisdictions. However, because of urbanization and population growth, these local governments now view the operations of the private operators as complementary. As a result, these local governments have the following to say about the operations of the commercial garbage operators in these two local government areas.: Efficiency aspect even though they are efficient in solid wastes recover, recycling, collection and disposal but find it very difficult (61%) to expend their profits on health, sanitation and public enlightenment. While in the aspect of effectiveness these private waste companies are effective among the individual houses, companies, hospitals, hotels and markets where they operate. Although, they are not ready to operate in peri-urban areas (48%) except with government support. Reliability aspects: these private SW companies are reliable but their area of coverage is small and may need government support for expansion (64%). In the area of accessibility these companies will be needing stronger trucks to operate in peri-urban areas because of bad roads and drainage, this will be accompanied with fees reduction in such areas (**Figure 1**).

**Figure 1.** *Nature of waste in the two (2) LGA OF Kano state Nigeria.*

#### *3.1.3 Ministry of Health, Kano State*

This ministry is responsible for public enlightenment on health and sanitation matters and this includes solid waste in the state. Information was obtained from the Ministry of Health headquarters in Kano through my personal visits to the ministry headquarter located at Audu Bako secretariat. The ministry has this to say of the waste private operators (**Tables 4** and **5**):


*Source: Authors field survey 2021.*

*Efficiency – They are efficient in those places where they are operating. However, despite ambitious coverage growth, they lack the necessary equipment for managing hospital waste (12%), and these enterprises are ineffective at educating the public about health and sanitation (18 percent). The only people that promote their services are their clients. Due to their inadequate equipment, they cannot be relied on to serve the entirety of Kano City in their operation (21 percent). Accessibility (15) Residents of Kano City's pre-urban (unplanned) neighborhoods cannot access them. The primary causes of this are inadequate access roads and drainage systems.*

#### **Table 4.**

*An assessment of solid waste companies by Ministry of Health, Kano State.*


#### **Table 5.**

*An assessment of solid waste companies operation by customers of solid waste companies, Kano State.*

#### *3.1.4 Customers of private operators*

Customers of private operators include market vendors, hotels, hospitals, markets, and factories, among others. While the clients are paying for the services provided, the private operators collect and dispose of the waste from the customers' locations. Regarding the private operators, they have this to say. Although pricey, they are effective. Effectiveness. They arrive to collect and dispose of the rubbish as soon as and when required. They are dependable since they always make an effort to fulfill their own obligations under the contract. Accessibility. These private businesses are open to everyone with the means to pay for the necessary services (**Table 6**).


*Challenges of SWM Hierarchy System: The Stakeholders New Saga in Perspectives DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.107123*

#### **Table 6.**

*An assessment of solid waste companies by people leaving in peri-urban areas of Kano.*

#### *3.1.5 People living in peri-urban areas of Kano walled City*

These are the unplanned areas where the low-income earners live. Information was collected from these people through oral interviews. They have this to say of the private operators as formal solid waste stakeholders that operate within these two earlier mentioned local government areas. Efficiency: Given their high cost (49%) and inability to be accessed by those with low incomes, they cannot be claimed to be efficient. Effectiveness because these locations are continuously maintained clean, they are effective where they operate (75%). They have a good track record when it comes to their coverage (53%). Considering that the majority of them (45%) living outside the two local government areas where the private garbage operators are not allowed to operate, low-income earners do not have access to the private operators at any time they desire to. Based on this analysis and discussion, the result of study of these forms of waste stakeholders operation in our cities in recent times has added to some of the recent advances in solid waste management in developing countries in this 21st century of our times.

#### **3.2 Impacts of the practice on the study area**

Efficiency: Given their high cost (49%) and inability to be accessed by those with low incomes, they cannot be claimed to be efficient. Effectiveness because these locations are continuously maintained clean, they are effective where they operate (75 percent). They have a good track record when it comes to their coverage (53 percent). Considering that the majority of them (45%) living outside the two local government areas where the private garbage operators are allowed to operate, low-income earners do not have access to the private operators at any time they desire to. The participation of the private operators have helped in reducing the heaps of refuse in some locations in the city, this is an expected outcome. Although, the practice has no impact on low-income areas of the city. And the reason behind this was found to be associated with the fact that the low-income communities are either unwilling or unable to pay for the services rendered by these private operators. Most of the households contacted on their willingness to pay for commercial refuse collection and disposal claim that if they had money, their priority would be for payment of water and electricity and not waste, even though these two facilities are in a very short supply to these two local government areas. However, with vigorous public education about the risks of having an unhygienic environment owing to improper management of solid waste (SW), as advocated by the current chairman of the Nassarawa Local Government Council,

people will be more prepared to pay for solid waste collection and disposal. By building access roads to these peri-urban centers (unplanned areas), the government can also encourage the private operators to begin operations there.

When asked if they had any plans to operate in such places in the near future, the managing director of the new company Cape cate managing garbage in Kano metropolis responded that they had already begun discussing the procedures with various Local Government Authorities in these urban areas. He did, however, offer the Sabon Gari market as an illustration of his company's presence there. With the assistance of the market authority, they now have a contract for the sweeping and disposal of market waste, and they are paid from the levies that are collected from individual traders. The managing director claims that this arrangement has already achieved over 80% success and is now self-sustaining.

On-site source recovery and recycling have been found to provide income for the owners and provide employment for locals. These autonomous companies work clandestinely. Out of anxiety that more private companies might enter the waste collection and disposal market, they are reluctant to freely provide information about how they conduct their operations. The cost of waste collection and disposal will substantially decrease with increased public awareness and private sector involvement, making it possible for people with modest incomes to afford the services of private managers/operators.

#### **3.3 Assessment of private operators' activity**

The activity of the private operator in Kano city came into limelight some decades back, precisely around 1983, during this period, the private contractor stars with only 50 houses because not all residential could afford it, but, after some period of public enlightenment , more houses decided to also joined the wagon mainly because they have seen the impact of these private operators on their surroundings, at the moment, based on personal counting of the various 200litre drum used as bin, the first private contractor (Clean Town Engineering Company) has more than 2000 of the 4500 drums counted In other words its area of operation in terms of coverage has increased. As a result of the success of this practice, more private operators have entered into this business. Whereas, the practice of solid waste collection and disposal by private operators is also operational in some parts of Lagos, Kaduna, Port Harcourt and Onitsha cities of Nigeria. Presently, there are more than 10 out of the 52 registered waste contractors operating in these two local government areas. These 10 private companies have all taken the bull by the horn by including proper recovery of waste materials from the waste stream before final disposal at the designated landfill located within Kano metropolis. It should be noted that these private operators have both medium and high-income earners as their customers. However, they do not operate within the low-income areas because people in those areas cannot afford their charges. For this stakeholders practice to become more effective in the low-income areas, then a bigger stakeholder like the state and local governments need to also embark on more public enlightenment to this residents on the need for them to keep their environment clean, and free from germs, as such, the government as part of its responsibility to its citizens need to dialogue with the private operators to subsidize their rate so that collection and disposal of solid waste by the private operators in the peri-urban centers can also be radicalized for a productivity as well as replicability [15]. This can be considered recent advances in SWM, if fully implemented in these two local government areas.
