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In a colourful ceremony held yesterday in Gboko, the Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria (PPFN) officially conferred patronship of its Benue State chapter on Rt. Hon. Mrs. Dorathy Mato, describing her as the perfect bridge to revive a branch that has struggled in recent years.
The presentation team, led by Acting North-Central Regional Coordinator Abdullahi Muhammed Muregi and flanked by Programme Officer Magdalene Shingei and Benue State Chairperson of Adult Volunteers Sarah Igbian, told the gathering that Mato’s reputation as a tireless mobiliser, community developer, and woman of deep networks made her the ideal figure to sit just below trustees on the organisation’s authority ladder.
“Her track record is exactly what we need to save more lives in Benue,” Muregi said, announcing that PPFN will deepen existing partnerships with Fidei Polytechnic Gboko to educate students on reproductive health and family-planning services, while continuing its core work in HIV/AIDS counselling, malaria prevention, grant sourcing for IDPs, and serving as a major link to donor agencies such as UNICEF.
Mrs. Mato, visibly moved, accepted the honour with gratitude and immediately went beyond symbolism. “All my life I have been into charity work,” she told the audience. “By the grace of God I have institutions that parade capable hands, so I will personally drive forward the good intention of PPFN in Benue State.”
She went on to make two concrete pledges on the spot: she will donate a plot of land in Vandeikya and provide office accommodation in Gboko to give the organisation permanent, dignified operational bases in the state. She also committed to using her influence to help PPFN secure the long-elusive state secretariat that governors in Plateau, Niger, Kogi and other states routinely provide.
The new patron has additionally accepted an invitation for formal decoration at the next national executive council meeting in Abuja, signalling that her role will carry weight far beyond Benue.
For an organisation whose work touches some of the most sensitive yet life-saving areas (family planning, maternal health, adolescent sexual education), having a politically exposed, deeply connected, and personally generous patron like Dorathy Mato could mark the turning point many volunteers have prayed for.
If the land titles are transferred and the offices materialise as promised, PPFN Benue may finally move from rented rooms and borrowed corners to the kind of stable platform that turns good intentions into measurable impact.
In a state where maternal mortality and unplanned pregnancies still claim too many young lives, that would be more than ceremony; it would be salvation wearing a new patron’s smile.
