Kelsey Davis

Montgomery Advertiser

Nearly 40 Nigerian students are taking legal action against Alabama State University for “absorbing” finances allocated to them by the Nigerian government.

These students are sponsored by the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which pays their tuition, fees, health insurance and other costs.

Kehinde Batife, a Nigerian student who led the students’ efforts to reclaim their finances, said each student is given $32,000 a year by the Nigerian government to cover their costs.

Not all students use the entirety of that sum. Instead of refunding the students what they didn’t use, ASU allegedly kept any excess money.

A federal complaint was filed on their behalf last Friday. It asks the court to order ASU to pay back the students what they're owed.

The university is also accused of putting the students’ money toward services they were not using.

For example, Success Jumbo, a plaintiff in the complaint, said he hasn’t lived on campus since 2014, but money continued to be taken out of his scholarship fund and put toward campus housing.

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“I’ve suffered a lot,” Jumbo said. “I got married May 2014. I’ve approached ASU on several occasions, I even took my wife and my baby to them and said, ‘Look, I no longer live on campus. I believe you guys understand the importance of being married. I need to get this money so I can use it to pay for my housing elsewhere.’”

Jumbo said he never received a refund. Other students were billed for summer tuition, although they weren’t taking summer courses, Batife said.

Batife estimated that the university has withheld roughly half a million dollars from the Nigerian students over a three year period.

Another plaintiff complained of ASU’s lack of transparency with the use of the Nigerian students scholarship money.

“We discovered that our financial statement were not made public,” said Philip Mezeh, a plaintiff. “This is not right. I want to see a breakdown (of the finances.)”

Court documents indicate that Kenneth Thomas, legal counsel for ASU, stated that there is no financial agreement between the students and the University. Because of this,any refunds should be directed to the Nigerian Government, Thomas wrote.

However, two letters were sent to ASU by Nigerian officials requesting the refunds be given directly to the students.

Julian McPhillips, who represents the students, said the Nigerian government also hadn’t received any refunds from the University.

ASU issued a statement indicating that they would not comment on pending litigation.