Temilola Blossom Arise: Chartered Accountant at 18

Biography

What she passed

The ICAN professional stage is the final tier of Nigeria's chartered accountancy examinations, five papers covering the technical core of the profession. Candidates normally sit it after a first degree and while working in an accountancy practice, which is the ordinary route to the designation.

Arise passed all five while still an undergraduate, and not an accountancy undergraduate: she was reading economics, at 300 level, roughly the third year of a Nigerian bachelor's degree. She was eighteen. The professional qualification was therefore complete before the degree it would normally follow.

What the university said

The announcement came from the University of Ilorin itself, on 7 July 2025, which is a stronger form of publication than a news report: an institution confirming a result about its own student.

The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Wahab Olasupo Egbewole, SAN, framed it as evidence of what the university provides, calling the achievement a confirmation of the incredible service delivery enjoyed by the students of the University. He added a hope rather than a boast: “As we celebrate this remarkable milestone, it is hoped that Miss Arise's journey would inspire undergraduate students of the University and other young people to pursue their passions with determination and courage.”

How the record moved

The university's phrasing was careful: one of the youngest, not the youngest. Later coverage places her more precisely. Face2Face Africa, reporting in July 2026, lists her as the holder of the Nigerian youngest-chartered-accountant record in 2025 at eighteen, following Jonathan Adewale at seventeen in 2022, and preceding Osasere Okundaye, who qualified at sixteen in 2026.

That sequence, seventeen in 2022, eighteen in 2025, sixteen in 2026, does not run smoothly downward, which is a useful corrective. Records of this kind are compiled retrospectively by the press rather than maintained by ICAN, and the ordering depends on who was reported at the time.

What is documented, and what is not

Firm: her age, eighteen; her status as a 300-level economics student at the University of Ilorin; that she passed all five papers of the ICAN professional stage; the university's announcement of 7 July 2025; the Vice-Chancellor's statement; and her later identification as the 2025 holder of the Nigerian record.

Not documented in these sources: her exact date of birth, so the birth year here is derived from her reported age; the date she sat or passed the examinations; her school before university; her family; how she studied for the professional papers alongside a degree; and her plans. She is not quoted anywhere in the material used here, which for a story published by her own university is a notable absence.

Why undergraduates take professional exams

Nigeria produces a steady supply of very young chartered accountants because the qualification is examined independently of the university system. ICAN sets its own papers, admits candidates who register and meet its entry requirements, and does not require a candidate to have completed a degree or to have reached a particular age.

For a student, the calculation is straightforward. A Nigerian economics graduate enters a crowded labour market; a graduate who is already an ICAN member enters a much smaller one. Doing both at once compresses years out of a career, at the cost of carrying two examination loads simultaneously. Arise's result is what that strategy looks like when it works, and the university publicising it is the institution recognising the same arithmetic.

Achievement Timeline

Temilola Blossom Arise — every milestone on this page, placed by age.

2022

Jonathan Adewale qualifies as a charteJonathan Adewale qualifies as a chartered accountant at seventeen

7 July 2025

The University of Ilorin announces thaThe University of Ilorin announces that Temilola Blossom Arise, 18, a 300-level economics student, has passed all five ICAN professional-stage papers and calls her one of the youngest chartered accountants in Nigeria

2026

Osasere Okundaye qualifies at sixteen;Osasere Okundaye qualifies at sixteen; Face2Face Africa records Arise as the previous holder of the Nigerian record

Historical Comparison

Person	Country	Milestone	Age / Stat
Ferdinand Maumo	Nigeria	Winning a chess tournament with a perfect score about a month after…	Age 10
Deborah Quickpen	Nigeria	Nigerian women's national chess champion at 11 (2023)	Age 11
Emmanuella Mayaki	Nigeria	Founding the CodeKid IT academy in Abuja at 11 and gaining a US…	Age 11
Anthony Madu	Nigeria	The 2020 video of him dancing ballet in the rain in Lagos	Age 12
Temilola Blossom Arise	Nigeria	An undergraduate in Ilorin passed all five professional papers before her	Age 15

What is documented — and what is not

✓ Documented

Passed all five papers of the ICAN professional stage at eighteen
A 300-level student in the Department of Economics at the University of Ilorin
Announced by the university on 7 July 2025 and described as one of the youngest chartered accountants in Nigeria
Later recorded by Face2Face Africa as the 2025 holder of the Nigerian youngest-chartered-accountant record

? Unverified, disputed or wrong

Her date of birth is not published; the birth year here is inferred
The date she sat or passed the examinations is not stated
Her family and earlier schooling are not documented
She is not quoted in any source used here, and nothing records her plans

Questions people ask about Temilola Blossom Arise

How old is Temilola Blossom Arise?

She was eighteen in July 2025. No source used here gives her date of birth, so the birth year on this page is approximate.

What did Temilola Blossom Arise do?

She passed all five papers of the ICAN professional stage examination at eighteen, while a 300-level economics undergraduate at the University of Ilorin.

Was she Nigeria's youngest chartered accountant?

Her university called her one of the youngest. Face2Face Africa later recorded her as the 2025 record holder, before Osasere Okundaye qualified at sixteen in 2026.

What is she studying?

Economics, in the Department of Economics at the University of Ilorin, at 300 level in 2025.

What did the university say?

The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Wahab Olasupo Egbewole, SAN, called it a confirmation of the service delivery enjoyed by the university's students and said he hoped her journey would inspire others.