Okundaye, 16, Breaks ICAN’s Youngest Accountant Record
A teenager who sat her first professional accounting examination while many of her peers were still choosing a career path has quietly rewritten the record books of one of Nigeria’s most demanding professions. Osasere Okundaye, aged 16, has qualified as a chartered accountant through the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, becoming the youngest person ever to earn the certification in the country’s history.
Okundaye shared the story behind the feat on Saturday during the Power Must Change Hands monthly programme at the headquarters of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries in Magboro, Ogun State. Standing before the congregation, she traced a journey that began three years earlier, at an age when the idea of a professional qualification would strike most children as remote.
“I am 16 years old. I started this ICAN journey three years ago after finishing my secondary school early,” she said. “My parents encouraged me to start writing the ICAN examinations through ATS instead of just waiting around until I got to the right age for university.”
That decision, to enter through the Institute’s Accounting Technicians Scheme rather than mark time until she was old enough for admission into a university, set her on an unusually early path. The scheme serves as ICAN’s entry-level route, preparing candidates for the chartered qualification proper. For Okundaye, the first hurdle was the steepest, largely because she had not studied accounting at secondary school.
“I wasn’t an accounting student in secondary school, so the exams, especially at the first level proved very difficult, more difficult than they probably were for other people at the same level,” she said. “But I had to put in extra effort, and with the grace of God, I was able to pass that first level. Ever since then, it has been a success.”
The road was not without disappointment. She recounted stumbling at the very last stage before recovering. “Last year, I failed one of my final papers, unfortunately, which I had to rewrite earlier this year in May,” she said. “To the glory of God, I passed that examination, and now I can say that I am a qualified accountant of the institute at 16 years old.”
The achievement drew commendation from the Federal Government. The Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, announced the milestone in a statement, describing it as proof of what young Nigerians can accomplish. “This remarkable milestone is a testament to the power of hard work, discipline, resilience and an unwavering commitment to excellence,” the minister said.
Okundaye’s record carries added weight because of the standard she surpassed. According to widely reported accounts, she broke the mark set in 2022 by Jonathan Adewale, who qualified as Nigeria’s youngest chartered accountant at 17. Her feat also comes a year after Temilola Blossom Arise, then an 18-year-old student at the University of Ilorin, passed her professional stage examination of ICAN, part of a steady run of young Nigerians clearing the Institute’s examinations well ahead of the conventional timeline.
The context sharpens the significance. The ICAN qualification is widely regarded as one of the country’s toughest professional certifications, typically attained by graduates and working professionals after years of study across accounting, finance and ethics. Reaching that level at 16, at an age when most contemporaries remain in secondary school, places Okundaye among the country’s most striking recent stories of academic attainment.