The IITA School’s baobab joins some large specimens of silk cotton tree (Ceiba pentandra) and African silk moth tree (Triplochiton scleroxylon) in front of the school. The planting of the baobab was the culmination of a project about this life-giving savanna tree by Montessori teacher Desny Bishop. She and the children had collected and grown the seed from a massive baobab within the IITA campus.

The tree planting at Pade Science School was initiated by Dr Dominique Dumet, Head of IITA Genetic Resources, and Dr Adeniyi Jayeola, University of Ibadan, who had earlier organized a quiz about biodiversity at IITA for visiting schools. The osun tree was raised and donated by the IITA Forest Project from seed collected in the IITA Arboretum. It is now very scarce or locally extinct in the area. As a result, substitute ingredients are often used to make black soap and the product is less effective at cleansing the skin and preventing irritation.