Solid Waste Management Policy and Local Government Performance in Kano State: An Assessment of Tarauni Local Government Area

This study evaluates the performance of Tarauni Local Government Area in Kano State in implementing solid waste management policy mandates, situated in Nigeria's North West geopolitical zone. Urban local governments in Nigeria are constitutionally assigned the responsibility of managing solid waste within their jurisdictions, yet policy implementation is compromised by inadequate funding, fleet deficits, poor community compliance, and weak enforcement of sanitation regulations. Tarauni, one of the densely populated inner-city areas of Kano Metropolis, presents a relevant context for assessing the operational and institutional dimensions of local government waste governance. Using a professional research design, data is gathered from 90 respondents including council waste management officers, residents, refuse van operators, and Kano State Refuse Management and Sanitation Board officials. The Waste Governance Framework and the Environmental Policy Implementation Model provide the conceptual grounding. Secondary data includes Kano State Refuse Management Authority annual reports and recent academic literature on urban waste governance in Northern Nigeria. Descriptive statistics and process evaluation methods are applied. Findings are expected to reveal that Tarauni's waste management performance is severely constrained by fleet inadequacy, poor internally generated revenue for operational costs, and limited community waste sorting compliance. Practical recommendations include public-private partnership arrangements for waste collection, community waste ambassador programs, and performance-based contracts for waste management contractors in Tarauni. Keywords: Solid waste management, local government, performance, Tarauni, Kano State.