High Cost Of Commodities At PH Airport Worries Passengers

Air travellers of the
Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa and those that do business there, have lamented the high cost of commodities at the airport.
Some of those who spoke with The Tide opined that prices of items at the airport are between 50 percent and 100 percent higher than what obtains at other places in Port Harcourt.
Reacting to the situation while interacting with The Tide, Mr John Tasie, an associate consultant with Ral Consult Services Company, said that some traders and business people had taken advantage of the airport environment to exploit people.
He said that the only item that the price has been forced down is that of bottled water and further explained that the reason for that was due to the effort of a concerned trader who was not happy with the situation, and decided to flood the place with bottled water.
According to him, the effort of this concerned trader brought bottled water from the 100 percent increase to the normal price, as is obtainable in other places.
He therefore urged other traders to emulate that example, and not to seek too much gain, adding that those that do business at the airport are not all oil company workers or politicians, and that most of these people do not even buy things at the airport.
Meanwhile, Fidelis Asuru, a taxi operator has attributed the high cost of items at the airport to exploitative tendencies of traders, pointing out that there is no justification for increasing items as much as 50 percent and above, given the present economic situation in the country.
Asuru said “some of the commodities sold at the airport are not even of good quality, and yet once they take them to the airport, the next thing is to make very high profit, which should not be so.
The Tide, however, observed that the price of plastic mineral bottle that cost N100 in other areas is sold for N150 or above, while Gala sausage roll popularly sold at N50, costs between N70 and N80 at the airport, where as the N100 meat pie is sold at N200 and above among other items.

Corlins Walter Amadi