It's a vast and challenging country to get around, so I wouldn't recommend it for a light vacation unless you're willing to spend a good chunk of time (at least a few weeks) and some moderately severe cash on guides, vehicles, and higher-end hotels. Nonetheless, it's a unique place for sooooo many reasons - ecological, cultural, historical, and gastronomical - that it's super interesting to learn about. 

If you do incline to come despite the various hardships, I can't recommend it highly enough. Once you're in-country, you can get some of the best French cooking in the world at bargain basement prices (check out Pourquoi Pas or Citizen in Tana), eat incredible soups in Tamatave, see a wide variety of lemurs and chameleons at any number of places (e.g. Andasibe, Ranomafana, Tzimbazaza), hike through rainforests, dry forests, mountains, deserts, and vast plains, visit UNESCO world heritage sites like the royal palace complex at Ambohimanga and limestone canyons with razor-sharp cliffs known as tsingy, and meet some of the sweetest people on the planet.

You'll also witness poverty of an intensity you've almost certainly never encountered before. The country is currently the 3rd poorest in the world, with 75 and 80% of the population earning less than $1.90 a day. You will experience infrastructure so incredibly neglected that it's constantly on the brink of collapse. You will be made vividly aware of the devastation of several of the unique ecosystems on the planet, rendered thus by uneducated rural populations with no source of alternative livelihoods to the traditional slash-and-burn and paddy agricultural systems. 

You will watch people deforest the remaining rainforest stands in front of your very eyes to provide food for themselves and their children or fuel for their cookfires. For all its faults, it is blessedly low on the violence front (although there has been a recent sharp uptick of violent cattle raiding and robbery incidents in the south associated with weakened state control and severe drought, and the vanilla and rosewood cartels in the north are also to be respected), but don't mistake it for a paradise. 

It's a land of extremes in every sense, and the human misery that drives these destructive processes shows few, if any, signs of improvement under the current government. Nevertheless, you have the money to step outside your comfort zone. In that case, it's one of the most exciting places I've ever been, with a dizzying array of human and natural diversity that will surely leave you wanting more.

The central highlands have been historically the province of the Merina (/Hova) and Betsileo peoples, both of whom have a strong rice paddy culture, lots of good land, and less variable/more agriculturally-appropriate rainy seasons relative to the worse soils and large inter- and intra-annual variation in rainfall observed on the coasts. The east coast was predominantly rainforest until the mid-19th century.

The Betsimisaraka, Betanimena, Tanala, and smaller ethnic groups of that coast essentially practice shifting swidden agriculture that can't support the same population densities as seen in the highlands. At the same time, the Sakalava and west coast ethnic groups have more arid and temperate climates that tend to support grazing and dryland agriculture, which also is less productive than paddy rice.

The Merina kingdoms of old (17th-end of the 19th century) also conquered most of the island before being overwhelmed by the French in 1896. The urban polity they built their empire around, the modern capital of Antananarivo in the center of the country, has been the largest city on the island ever since, providing a further draw toward the center and away from the coasts.

It will be a completely different country. There were many kingdoms in central Africa, and Kongo was the most popular due to its strong relationship with Europe since the 15th century. I also think the Igbos had a strong tie with the original Congo and fled to South Nigeria due to slavery. The languages sound similar. What do I know, though?

Yea, it's a common stereotype that Africa is poor and unsafe, there are poor and hazardous regions, but that's not ALL there is, and that's the mistake people make

EXACTLY, it's frustrating, but it's good to ask questions. Well, you're lucky because Lagos is solidly in the Yoruba region. They even opened a new Yoruba history museum/cultural center just last week (maybe coincidentally for you). Anyway, all the other Yoruba states are in the South and easily accessible from Lagos, so you shouldn't have a problem. I'm not Yoruba, and I don't know much about their landmarks, but I'd recommend you take time to visit Badagry, the Slave Museum, and the Point of no return (where enslaved people were boarded onto the ships).

Unfortunately, since you're mainly interested in Yoruba culture, you won't necessarily have a reason to visit Abuja or the eastern part of Nigeria. Maybe even Calabar. I am sure you will love it there, too, if you are curious about where the Caribbean culture originated from.

We look forward to having you!