Yoruba as a language has become a subject of study since around the 19th century going by works of such individuals as Bowdich, Kilham, Ajayi-Crowther, Werner, Ward, Ida, Bamgbose, Awobuluyi, Babalola,Westernman, Abimbola, Olatunji, Egbe Akomolede etc.Curricullum has been developed just as a number of modifications/improvements have been made on itsteaching and writing methodology. Areas where the emendations and edifications havebeen significant being in:Orthography, Phonology, Morphorlogy, and Syntactic formation. Just as attention has further been given to the study of dialects found in the language. Yoruba is, of course, a tonal lanaguage - a situation that usually poses a peculiar challenge to young learners of the language (particularly non-natives). Three major tones - high, middle, low - exist in the language. Thus, a word can mean different things depending on the tone it is given. For instance: Ojo (low and high tones - name of a person); ojo (low and low - rain); ojo (middle and middle - cowardice);ojo (middle and high - day). A particular word can yield six different meanings 'igba' (middle and high - calabash); igba (middle and low - peonage); igba (middle and low - strap); igba(middle and middle - 200); igba (low and high - garden egg) igba (low and low - period/time). Few things could be more confusing! Little wonder many people, Yoruba youths especially, find reading Yoruba texts somewhat cumbersome. This paper presents a seminal report of a research work embarked upon by JARE AJAYI aimed at reducing the dilemma a reader encounters in reading a Yoruba text. Suggestions are made regarding the re-structuring of the present alphabet to take care of the tones, such that a mere look at a written word will make the tone it is to be given obvious. Meaning that even without uch of the tone marks, the pronunciation of a word (and what it means) can be easily determined.

Beginning from the formation of Egbe Omo Oduduwa to Afenifere, Yorubas have always made attempts to have a platform that epitomizes their aspirations – socially and politically. Their political behaviour which portrays them as the most sophisticated and progressive (by Nigerian standard at least), their relative homogeneity and contiguity of the land they occupy in the western part of Nigeria and Eastern part of Benin Republic have combined to buoy their aspirations. For instance, being dominant (and articulate) in whatever party they belong to has always ensured that they are not only visible but result-oriented. Luckily for them, parties that could be described as ‘theirs’ had always managed to control power in their area since Nigeria began to be ruled by political party experimentation. The exception to date being the recent election of 2003 in which the PDP swept the ground off the feet of the AD (the political party in which Yorubas seem to be dominant). Combined with their entrepreneurial acumen and their intellectual bent and administrative skill, this political leverage had always been used to formulate policies and implement programs that continue to advance the aspirations of the people. Which is why they are arguably the most advanced and sophisticated among the major ethnic groups in Nigeria today. Yet, there is a lamentable and avoidable lacunae between the people’s actual status and their potentials. Destructive rivalry, inordinate greed and materialism have detracted from the quantum of progress they would have made. This matter is of interest academically and pragmatically because whatever progress or ‘retrogress’ made by Yorubas at home would have remarkable effect on the Yorubas in the diaspora. In this paper, attempt is made at identifying what could pass as Yoruba ideals, aspirations and pitfalls as well as the way out.