A security vacuum is slowly widening in Nigeria, though its severity and extent have been largely obscured by media tunnel-vision on singular tragedies (the kidnapping of 200 schoolgirls in Chibok); the shocking advances made by Islamic State in Syria and Iraq; and most recently the presence of an Ebola cluster in Africa’s most populous country.

Boko Haram’s advances over the past few months mirror those made by Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. It’s only the immediate economic stakes that are lower. Unlike Islamic State, Boko Haram has yet to capture the oil fields which could fund a rapid expansion of the group’s recruitment, materiel, and geographic reach (the group operates in the largely agrarian northeast, far from Nigeria’s energy heartland in the southwest).

But, in light of the eerily familiar string of victories from Boko Haram of late, the stakes might be increasing exponentially in the very near future.