We assessed the perception of students on ecosystem services (ES) in an urban landscape, using selected secondary schools in Ilorin, Kwara state, Nigeria as a case study. A purposive and simple random sampling technique was adopted for the selection of 19 schools and 570 students who were administered questionnaire. The objectives were to elicit information on their awareness of urban trees, ES, and willingness-to-accept or pay for local conservation programs for trees and ES. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square test of independence were used to summarize the results. Overall, students in the Junior and Senior categories accounted for (37%) and (64%) of the sample respectively. These were mostly girls (54%) between 13 - 15 years (n = 330). Most (93%) of the students appreciate the presence of trees within and around the school environment in relation to the awareness of the ES that trees provide. However, age (χ₂ = 23.108, p = 0.004, df = 22) of the students had a positive influence on their perception of trees and ES. Edible fruits (95%) and medicine (93%) and regulating services including provision of shade, control of local temperature and scenic beauty received positive rankings. Thus, most (96%) students were willing to embrace tree planting (n = 504) and encouraging their families and friends to plant trees (n = 474) as local conservation measures to sustain urban trees in the study area. Although, only few respondents expressed willingness-to-pay and an average of ₦100 - ₦500 was what they were willing to contribute towards conservation programs. The findings of this study established the importance of integrating youth participation and support for urban trees development projects to decision makers, town planners, forest managers and government at all levels in Ilorin, and other major cities of Nigeria.