U.S. State Officially Added Yoruba Language For Drivers’ permit

The U.S. State of Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration has Officially added the Yoruba Language for Drivers’ permit Tests, Vehicle Registration, and Study Materials. The Yoruba language was added based on the latest data from the United States Census data which shows that Yorùbá was one of the largest non-English languages spoken in the state. This means that starting this September, Maryland residents will be able to take their learner’s permit in the Yoruba language. The announcement is part of several new initiatives around the state to reflect its growing and diverse population.

The Yoruba language was recently added as a  testing language for the Department of Motor Vehicles in the United States. Similarly, since 2014, Selfridges and Harrods have been employing Yoruba-speaking staff, and the UK Metropolitan Police Service has been hiring Yoruba-speaking Constables and Officers since 2015. Yoruba language and culture in the Americas are being practiced by a large group of people, mostly the enslaved people that were ancestrally taken from all over Africa. Still, ONLY the Yoruba language, culture, and traditional religion have collectively withstood the acculturation by European culture to become one of the most dominant cultures in the Americas and Caribbeans. Yoruba Ifa-based Babalawo is very popular with Whites and Latinos in the Americas, and Santeria and Candomblé are two of the fastest-growing religions in North and South America. They are both based on the traditional Yoruba Ifa religion, mixed with Catholicism, with saints known as Orisa. Even in modern times, music of Yoruba origin is rebranding Nigeria’s image away from 419 and romance scams. We thank those who set the table and laid the foundation, especially Fela Kuti, King Sunny Ade, and Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey. Unsurprisingly, all of Nigeria’s Grammy Award winners have been of Yoruba descent, except Burna Boy whose mum also is Yoruba, including Sade Adu (1986), Babatunde Olatunji (1991), Sikiru Adepoju (1991) and Seal (1996), Burna Boy (2021), Wizkid (2021), Temilade Openiyi AKA Tems (2023).